Has a privately owned business ever turned into a co-op?

[muriel_volestrangler]

32. The John Lewis Partnership in the UK

The John Lewis Partnership is an employee-owned UK partnership which operates John Lewis department stores, Waitrose supermarkets and a number of other services. The company is owned by a trust on behalf of all its employees — known as partners - who have a say in the running of the business and receive a share of annual profits, which is usually a significant addition to their salary. The group is the third largest UK private company in the Sunday Times Top Track 100 for 2010.
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The business was founded in 1864 when John Lewis set up a draper's shop in Oxford Street, London, which developed into a department store. In 1905 he bought the Peter Jones store in Sloane Square. In 1920 his son, John Spedan Lewis, expanded earlier power-sharing policies by sharing the profits the business made among the employees. The democratic nature and profit-sharing basis of the business were developed into a formal partnership structure and Spedan Lewis bequeathed the company to his employees. As of 2011, there are 81,000 partners – the majority full-time – working for the John Lewis Partnership.
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Finally, every partner receives an Annual Bonus, which is a share of the profit. It is calculated as a percentage of the salary, with the same percentage for everyone, from top management down to the shop floor and the storage rooms. The bonus is dependent on the profitability of the partnership each year, varying between 9% and 20% of the partners' annual salaries since 2000. The Annual Partnership Bonus for 2007 was the top end 20%, this is before the recession started. The Annual Partnership Bonus for 2008 was 15% of a partner's gross earnings for the 2007/2008 financial year. The Annual Partnership Bonus for 2009 was 13% of a partner's gross earnings for the 2008/2009 financial year. The Annual Partnership Bonus for 2010 was 15% of a partner's gross earnings for the 2009/2010 financial year.

In 1999, in response to a fall in profits, there were calls from some Partners for the business to be demutualised and floated on the stock market. If this had gone through, each Partner would have been guaranteed a windfall of up to £100,000 each, in order to compensate them for their share of the business. In the end, no one on the Partnership Council agreed with the idea and only one member spoke in favour of a referendum on the issue.
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Financial year Turnover Profit before tax Net profit Partner bonuses Profit retained
2011–2012 £8.73 billion £393.3 million £353.8 million £165.2 million (14%) £188.6 million

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lewis_Partnership

John Spedan Lewis (22 September 1885 – 21 February 1963) was a British businessman and the founder of the John Lewis Partnership.

The elder of two sons of John Lewis, who had opened the John Lewis department store on Oxford Street, London, Spedan Lewis joined the business at 19 and in 1914 assumed control of his father's second shop, Peter Jones in Sloane Square, London.

After assuming control of the Oxford Street store with his father's death in 1928, Spedan Lewis officially formed the John Lewis Partnership, and began the distribution of profits among its employees (known as "partners&quot in 1929, and completed the move towards employee-ownership in 1950, with the transfer of control to the employees.

Spedan Lewis resigned as chairman in 1955, and was known within the company from that point on as "The Founder". In retirement, he lived at Longstock Park, near the village of Longstock in Hampshire until his death. In accordance with his wishes he was buried at sea.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Spedan_Lewis