The Blackwell family have run the company since its foundation, with an ownership divided between voting shares owned by the family and wealth shares owned by family and others. However, there was a public dispute in 2002 between Julian 'Toby' Blackwell, the current owner of the group, and Nigel Blackwell, the former chairman of the publishing arm, about the possible sale of the publishing business. This led to an offer of £300 million from Taylor & Francis and to an eventual deal with John Wiley & Son in 2006, as a result of which Nigel Blackwell and Toby's son Philip Blackwell left the business, leaving Toby Blackwell the sole family member still involved in running the company. Other family voting shares are held by a trust, which Toby's shares will transfer to when he dies, eventually bringing an end to the Blackwell family involvement with the company. Toby Blackwell announced in 2009 that the wealth shares would be distributed between staff, transforming the company into an employee-partnership, similar to that of retailer John Lewis, when the company returns to profitability having spent several years experiencing losses. The company reported it was expecting to return to profit in 2012.