American CEO Gives Over ₹2,100 Crore To Employees

Back in March, a factory worker in the US was asked to meet her boss near the workplace. Sitting outside, he thanked her for 29 years with the company. Then a co-worker handed her a sealed blue-and-white envelope. When she opened it, she found she was being given a substantial sum of money. The gesture wasn’t limited to her alone, as all 540 full-time employees received the same unexpected payout. Graham Walker, an American CEO, has caught the world's attention after handing out $240 million, approximately ₹2,155 crore, in bonuses to his employees.

Walker set up FibreBond with his family, a company that produces enclosures for electrical equipment. It wasn’t always an easy run, and the business only regained momentum after moving into data-centre projects. Through those tougher years, many employees stayed put, something Walker deeply appreciated. When he agreed earlier this year to sell the business to a power-management company for more than ₹15,200 crore, he added a clause to the deal: a portion of the money, 15% of the sale value, would be set aside for employees.

In June, the company started giving bonuses to its employees. On average, each received about ₹4 crore, paid over five years as long as they stayed with the company. Those who had been there longer got even more. When the bonuses arrived, many employees couldn’t believe what they were seeing. Some wondered if it was a joke, while others were moved to tears. Since then, people have used the money to pay off debts, buy cars, cover college fees, and plan for retirement. Graham Walker said it was up to each employee how they chose to spend the money.

Fibrebond was started by Graham Walker’s father, Claud, in 1982. The company faced major setbacks, including a devastating fire in 1998 and a sharp drop in customers and staff. Despite this, the Walkers kept paying salaries. Leadership passed to Graham and his brother in the mid-2000s, and a $150 million investment in 2020 to build data centre infrastructure, including power enclosures, paid off. According to The Wall Street Journal, sales have since surged nearly 400% over five years, boosted by the AI data centre boom.

It’s common for employees to profit from a company sale or IPO if they own shares, as often seen in Silicon Valley. But Fibrebond’s case is unusual because staff who didn’t own any part of the business still received a significant payout.