Telex will belong to the Telex team: the publisher of Telex becomes employee-owned

June 13. 2022. – 12:13 PM

updated

Telex will belong to the Telex team: the publisher of Telex becomes employee-owned
Graphics: Péter Somogyi (szarvas) / Telex

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Van Másik Kft, the publisher of Telex, which has been owned by founder Márton Kárpáti until now is to be transformed into a limited liability company. The main goal of the transformation – as we have always wanted since the creation of Telex – is to make Telex the property of those working at Telex and to ensure that it stays that way forever. This will be fully achieved, because only those who work at Telex will have access to shares, and we will continue to use legal means to ensure that the company will not fall into the hands and control of any politician or oligarch.

75% of the shares will be employee shares, divided equally among the employees, as requested by the editorial board. Of these shares, only founding editor-in-chief Veronika Munk will receive a larger share than the others. The special feature of the employee share is that it can only be given to an employee of Van Másik Kft, never to an external person. This type of share ensures that Telex will always be owned by Telex employees, even 50 to 100 years from now.

Telex was created with the support of its readers, and has been operating largely on that support ever since. We will continue to report on our activities. We are planning for the long term, we have a lot of plans, we want to keep developing, so we are using and saving the subsidies exclusively for these purposes. If you are not yet a supporter and would like to support our work, you may do it at our donation page. Please, ask your friends to do the same, as we would not exist without our readers' support.

The remaining 25% of the shares will be divided as ordinary shares between Szabolcs Dull, Editor-in-Chief, Márton Kárpáti, Business Development and Strategy Director, András Kárpáti, IT Director and András Pusztay, Economic and Sales Director.

Telex will not only be owned by the current Telex team, but the editorial team will have a strong say on key issues:

  • The current Editor-in-Chief will participate in the management of the company as a member of the Board of Directors.
  • The editorial board will also have voting rights in the company's governing body.
  • The involvement of an outside investor will require the consent of the board elected by the editorial board, i.e. if the editorial board does not support it, no outside party can acquire any ownership in the company and no one can obtain a loan against its shares. This is a very strong assurance that no outside actor can become an owner without the approval of the editorial board of Telex.
  • The editorial board acquires the right to propose and approve the appointment or removal of the editor-in-chief: the appointment or removal of the editor-in-chief must be approved by the committee elected by the editorial board, i.e. no one can forcibly remove the editor-in-chief.

If a shareholder leaves the company, their shares can be acquired by the limited liability company or any of the Telex shareholders.

The transformation into the described structure was approved by overwhelming majority by the Telex editorial board on 1 June.

The translation of this article was made possible by our cooperation with the Heinrich Böll Foundation.