For most people, big payouts from initial public offerings call to mind software engineers—not yogurt factory workers.
But when Chobani goes public, some of its hourly workers could stand to make $1 million or more in stock awards, an uncommon outcome in an industry rarely lauded for its treatment of workers.
Five years ago, Chobani founder and CEO Hamdi Ulukaya—the billionaire “yogurt king” who has said he follows an “anti-CEO playbook” and is worth $2.1 billion by Forbes’ estimate—caused a stir when he announced the grant to employees. His some 2,000 full-time employees would be awarded shares worth up to 10% of the company’s value when it eventually went public or was sold.
Chobani did not reveal many details when the award was disclosed in 2016, but the New York Times, granted interviews before the decision was made public, reported that shares were based on tenure. The report estimated that at a $3 billion valuation, the average employee payout would be $150,000, while the earliest employees’ stakes could possibly reach over $1 million.
Read more/Source: Forbes
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