Louisiana businessman sells company for $1.7B, allocates $240M as bonuses for employees

A Louisiana businessman negotiated a $1.7 billion sale of his company that included $240 million in bonuses paid out to his 540 full-time employees. 

Graham Walker, who was the CEO of Fibrebond, which makes enclosures for electrical equipment, told The Wall Street Journal that he would only agree to sell the company if the buyer would set aside 15% of the total sale price to go to the employees, none of whom owned stock in the company. 

The deal in which Eaton acquired Fibrebond committed payouts averaging over $400,000 to each of the 540 employees, to be paid out over five years. Walker told the Journal that it was a non-negotiable requirement. 

The acquisition of the company, headquartered in the town of Minden, Louisiana, with a population of 12,000, was completed in April, and in June, the employees started receiving envelopes with the specific details for each of them.