Each month we profile a different company that we feel exemplifies entrepreneurial employee ownership. Company Background Begun as a pioneering newspaper in 1882 in Milwaukee, Wis., Journal Communications Inc. has grown into one of America's leading independent media and communications companies. Just 22 days later, it was sold to Lucius Nieman, who, at age 24, was already a veteran journalist. In 1916, Nieman hired Harry J. Grant from The Journal's Chicago advertising agency to serve as the paper's business editor. Three years later, Nieman's health failed and Grant was named publisher.
Editorial matter is the base of it all.
In 1935, the death of Lucius Nieman put the future of the company in question. Fulfilling Nieman's posthumous wish, Harry J. Grant, who had succeeded Nieman as president and editor of The Journal, set out to establish a unique employee-ownership plan. In 1937, Harry Grant, shunning the opportunity for enhanced personal enrichment, fought to establish an employee ownership plan that he had envisioned for several years. Grant said that his stake in the company had inspired him to do his job well. That guiding principle was true in 1937.