The $240 Million 'Thank You': A CEO's Story Of Having His Employees' Backs

In what can be seen as one of the rarest moments in the history of corporates, Graham Walker, the founder of Fibrebond gifted his employees $240 million after he sold the company earlier this year, reported the Wall Street Journal.

Founded in Minden, Louisiana, United States by Graham and his family, Fibrebond started out with making enclosures for electrical equipment. Over the years the company went through all sorts of ups and downs, including a fire in 1998 that brought everything to a stand still.

Graham's father Claud Walker did not stop paying salaries to his employees even in those dire times and built loyalty with his staff. Consequently, in its harshest times too, employees of the company did not lose faith and most of them stood by it.

Eventually, the smoke clouds cleared and Fibrebond got rebuilt from ground up. The company went on to invest $150 million to expand capacity to build infrastructure for data centers, including enclosures for power equipment. Luckily, the boon for this decision came in 2020 after data demand for cloud computing during the Covid lockdown surged.

Fibrebond sales over the past five years have climbed nearly 400%, thanks to the AI boom.

Despite the massive success and growth of the company Walker decided to sell it... but not without taking his most priced possessions along with him.

Once bigger companies began noticing Fibrebond's growth, they took interest in an acquisition. Walker told suitors 15% of the proceeds of any deal would have to go to his employees, a reward for their loyalty and dedication.

Finally, the deal with Eaton, a power-management company was sealed for $1.7 billion.

 "We came to an agreement with this second-generation, family-owned business that honors their commitments to their employees and the community", an Eaton spokeswoman told Wall Street Journal.

Of this, all of his 540 full-time employees started to receive $240 million in bonuses. The average bonus amounted up to $443,000 and was to be paid over five years, as long as the employees remained at the company for that period, those who stayed longer received much more.

The massive bonuses weren't just that for the employees. Many of them used the amount to pay off predatory high-interest debt or mortgages.

Some were riddled with disbelief with one woman asking, "Is this all fake?” as she darted her eyes around the room to look for hidden cameras. Others were emotional and burst out crying.

Since then, employees have used the cash to slash debt, buy cars, pay college tuition and fund retirements.

One of them even took his entire extended family to Cancún. The cash wasn't just cash, it helped lift spirits and boost business in Minden, a city of roughly 12,000 people located about 30 minutes east of Shreveport, La.