But what he did next would be remembered by his employees for the rest of their lives.
A businessman from a small town in Louisiana, United States , became a billionaire when he sold his family business last year.
He distributed $240 million (approx about ₹ 2,305 crore as per current exchange rate) among 540 members of his staff. Graham Walker ensured that his employees received a cut of the money he earned from selling his family business.
Walker sold his family’s company, Fibrebond, last year for approximately $1.7 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal. However, his condition for the prospective buyer was that his employees would receive 15 per cent of the acquisition proceeds. One of the employees, who started working at the company in 1995 at an hourly wage of $5.35 and now leads a team of 18 people, told the outlet that she used the bonus to pay off her mortgage. The turnaround came with a risky $150 million investment when the company started building modular power enclosures for data centres. Eventually, Fibrebond’s sales climbed nearly 400 per cent and drew attention from larger industrial players.
Graham Walker told WSJ that he rewarded his employees as a gesture of gratitude for sticking with the company even during the tough times. Walker told the outlet that the staff spent the money on various things, including paying the mortgage, slashing debt, buying cars, paying college tuition, and even building retirement funds. She also fulfilled her dream of opening a clothing boutique. Usually, employees receive a large payout when a company is sold if they own shares. What sets Walker’s gesture apart is that the employees who received the bonus don’t own a piece of the business.
