: Reed Elsevier's defined benefit schemes have historically held significant assets and liabilities—for instance, the UK scheme was valued at over £2 billion as early as 2007.

While the term "buyout" can refer to corporate acquisitions, in a pension context, it typically follows these two paths:

: Large corporations often use "buy-ins" (purchasing insurance policies as plan assets) or "buyouts" (transferring the entire liability to an insurer).