Company employees get unexpected gift as CEO turns real-life Santa Claus, offers $240 million bonus

A US factory chief is making headlines for his benevolent gesture. Former CEO of Fibrebond, Graham Walker, turned real-life Santa Claus for 540 full-time employees after he presented them with a six-figure bonus. According to a Wall Street Journal report, the cumulative payout totalled $240 million.

Graham Walker sold the company for $1.7 billion to Eaton, and in the terms of the contract, required the buyer to earmark 15% of the proceeds for its employees. Although none of the employees owned stock, each worker would receive an average payout of $443,000 over a period of 5 years.

Asserting that this requirement was non-negotiable, he suggested that this compensation would enable the scores of employees to restart. The 46-year-old acknowledged the work of these employees who had put in efforts so that the company could navigate through decades of booms, busts and near-collapse situations.

The process of payouts started in June when the takeover process was finalised earlier this year. With long-tenured employees receiving far more individual awards than others, employees received sealed envelopes detailing their payouts. While some of them believed it to be a prank, others were overwhelmed with emotion.

All you need to know about Fibrebond

Fibrebond, which is now acquired by Eaton, used to design and build pre-integrated modular power enclosures used at data centres. The company was founded in 1982 by Walker’s father, Claud Walker.

During the 1990s cellular boom, Fibrebond thrived and enjoyed substantial market power. But in 1998, it faced a major setback when its factory was reduced to ashes. During those days, production stalled, but the Walkers stood true to their loyalty culture and continued paying employees their remuneration.

By the early 2000s, the dot-com bust slashed Fibrebond’s customer base to just three clients. From a workforce of 900, massive layoffs downsized the number of employees to just 320. This was when Graham Walker and his brother took charge of operations. To revive the company, the Walker brothers sold assets to bring down debt while they searched for a new market.

A risky $150 million investment yielded results and turned around Fibrebond's fortunes when cloud computing demand surged during the pandemic. During this time, sales grew nearly 400% in five years, and as a result, big industrial players started showing interest in its acquisition.