Factory Owner Shares $240M Windfall With 540 Workers

For hundreds of Louisiana factory workers, being summoned by the boss turned out to be the kind of meeting one dreams about but almost never gets. Fibrebond CEO Graham Walker quietly informed 540 full-time employees in March that they'd share $240 million from the sale of his family's company in Minden, despite owning no stake in it. Per the Wall Street Journal, Fibrebond, which builds enclosures for electrical equipment and now data centers, was sold this year to power management giant Eaton for $1.7 billion. As part of the deal, Walker insisted that 15% of the proceeds be set aside for employees as a reward for staying through fires, layoffs, and years of financial strain.

The average payout is about $443,000, to be issued over five years for most workers who remain on the job; those with long tenures collected far more. Some initially thought the bonus letters were a joke. Recipients say they're using the money to erase mortgages, cut debt, pay tuition, start small businesses, or, in one case, take 25 relatives on a trip to Cancun. Walker's move is unusual because, unlike Silicon Valley-style windfalls, Fibrebond's employees didn't hold equity in the company. The business was owned entirely by seven members of the Walker family.

Founded in 1982, Fibrebond nearly collapsed multiple times, including after a devastating plant fire in 1998 and the dot-com bust in the early 2000s. Workers say the family's decision back then to keep paying salaries during the worst periods, and later to offer group bonuses tied to safety and performance, fostered a strong sense of loyalty in a town where job options are limited. Walker, 46, called a "real-life Santa Claus" by the New York Post, says he chose 15% simply because "it's more than 10%," and because he didn't want to face his neighbors having kept all of the windfall.

Some advisers warned that tying large retention bonuses to a sale could prompt lawsuits from former staff, but Eaton agreed to honor the arrangement. A few current employees have grumbled about the five-year vesting schedule and the tax bite—some owe six figures to the IRS—but most describe the payouts as life-changing. Local officials say the money has also given Minden's economy a visible jolt. Walker, who leaves the company at year's end, says his only request now is that workers keep telling him, years from now, what the money did for them. Fibrebond, meanwhile, continues other charitable works locally.