CEO gifts employees $240 million in surprise bonuses after selling company

Apartamentos en renta en Atlanta – Park Vista

Ahora rentando apartamentos de 2 habitaciones • Excelente ubicación • Vida asequible

When a family’s company went up for sale, they made sure employees got a cut of the profits.

WASHINGTON — The sale of a north Louisiana company has led to some life-changing bonuses for hundreds of workers.

Graham Walker, the outgoing CEO of Fibrebond, made sure that about 15% of the proceeds from the sale of his family’s company would go to their 540 full-time employees, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The bonuses came out to about $443,000 each – paid out over the next 5 years if the employees stay with the Minden, Louisiana, company.

Walker’s father, Claud Walker, started Fibrebond in 1982. The company has been through many changes over the decades and found new life in recent years building equipment enclosures for data centers. Earlier this year, Walker agreed to sell the business to a power-management company for $1.7 billion.

He explained to NBC News that he wanted to reward employees who had stuck with the company through the ups and downs over the past four decades and wanted “to allow people to share in the good part of it as well.”

So, he included a condition into the terms of the company’s sale: 15% of the proceeds would go to employees.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the full-time employees began receiving $240 million in bonuses in June. The average bonus was $443,000, to be paid over five years, but those who have been at the company for a long time reportedly received much more at the Minden-based business, located about 30 minutes east of Shreveport, La.

Walker stressed to NBC News that everyone earned these bonuses.

“It was not just a gift,” Walker said, noting the sale was only possible because of the hard work that their entire team has put in.

@nbcnews
Graham Walker, the outgoing CEO of Fibrebond, gifted his 540 full-time employees 15% of the proceeds of his company’s sale — coming out to $443,000 each, paid out over the next five years if they stay with the company.
♬ original sound – nbcnews – nbcnews

Some employees acknowledged to The Wall Street Journal they were surprised to learn taxes would take away a third or so of their payouts and that it’s paid annually over the next 5 years – making it hard to quit if they wanted to.

But overall, most of the employees were grateful for the surprise bonuses.

Walker will be leaving the company on Dec. 31.