Aardman hands majority share to staff

The founders of UK studio Aardman Animations have transferred a 75% stake in the business to its 140 employees.

Nick Park’s Wallace & Gromit

Peter Lord and David Sproxton, who founded the studio behind Wallace & Gromit and Shaun the Sheep in 1972, will retain a 25% stake in the company via parent group Aardman Holdings.

The pair told UK newspaper The Guardian the move would safeguard the Bristol-based company’s independence.

The employee ownership scheme is being funded out of the company’s £18m (US$23m) cash reserve, with employees owning their majority stake in the business via a trust.

A new board of directors will be established, with the company set to appoint a replacement for MD Sproxton, who is stepping down to become a consultant to the business, within the next 12 months.

Lord will remain as creative director for the company for up to five years, while Nick Park, who created Wallace & Gromit and joined Aardman in 1985, will retain a key role in the company and sit on the new board of directors.

Sproxton said that employee ownership was preferable to a management buy-out or sale to a major studio.

“If we sold Aardman it would just become an asset on the balance sheet to be traded. They could say, ‘Let’s turn it all over to CGI and shoot it in Singapore,’” Sproxton told The Guardian.

Aardman is gearing up to release feature film Shaun the Sheep: Farmageddon next year, while it recently launched its first major console game, 11:11: Memories Retold.

It also recently produced the series Morph, featuring the classic Aardman character created by Lord and Sproxton, for Sky Kids in the UK.