The generous gesture came after the benevolent boss sold the company for $1.7 billion.

Graham Walker, the now-former CEO of Fibrebond, told The Wall Street Journal that he would not agree to sell his company if prospective buyer Eaton did not earmark 15% of the proceeds for its employees — even though none of them owned stock.

The deal, which was completed earlier this year when Eaton acquired Fibrebond, triggered payouts to 540 full-time workers, averaging about $443,000 per worker spread over five years.

Graham Walker, the former CEO of Fibrebond, required that 15% of the proceeds from the sale of his family company go directly to employees — a $240 million windfall. Fibrebond

Long-tenured employees received far more, according to The Journal.

Walker, 46, told the newspaper that the requirement was non-negotiable.

Without it, he believed many workers who had carried the company through decades of booms, busts and near-collapse would walk out the door.

In June, employees began receiving sealed envelopes detailing their individual awards. Some of them were overwhelmed with emotion while others thought it was a prank, The Journal reported.

Others sat in stunned silence.

Lesia Key, a 29-year Fibrebond veteran who started in 1995 making $5.35 an hour, broke down when she opened her letter, according to the report.

Key, now 51, had risen to oversee facilities across Fibrebond’s 254-acre campus, managing a team of 18.

She reportedly used her bonus to pay off her mortgage and open a clothing boutique in a nearby town.

The factory floor where employees who once made hourly wages walked away with life-changing payouts. Fibrebond

“Before, we were going paycheck to paycheck,” Key was quoted as saying. “I can live now.”

Another employee used his money to take his entire extended family to Cancún, Mexico. Others paid down credit cards, bought cars outright, funded college tuition or boosted retirement savings.

One longtime assistant manager, Hong “TT” Blackwell, 67, received several hundred thousand dollars and immediately retired.

Blackwell, an immigrant from Vietnam who spent more than 15 years in Fibrebond’s logistics operation, said she used part of her bonus to buy her husband a Toyota Tacoma and set aside the rest.

“Now I don’t have to worry,” she said. “My retirement is nice and peaceful.”

Blackwell said taxes took a heavy bite — nearly $100,000 — but the net amount was still life-changing.

Across Minden, a town of about 12,000 people, the money rippled quickly through the local economy.

Fibrebond’s 254-acre manufacturing campus in Minden, where 540 full-time workers shared in the sale proceeds. Fibrebond

City officials said local retailers saw a surge in spending as employees paid off debts, renovated homes and made long-delayed purchases.

“There’s a lot of buzz about the amount of money being spent,” Mayor Nick Cox told The Journal.

Fibrebond was founded in 1982 by Walker’s father, Claud Walker, with a dozen employees building shelters for electrical and telecom equipment.

It thrived during the cellular boom of the 1990s — then nearly collapsed when its factory burned to the ground in 1998.

The Walkers kept paying employees even as production stalled, a move workers still cite as the foundation of the company’s loyalty culture.

By the early 2000s, the dot-com bust slashed Fibrebond’s customer base to just three clients, forcing layoffs that cut the workforce from roughly 900 to 320.

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Graham Walker and his brother later took over day-to-day operations, selling assets and paying down debt while searching for a new market.

The turnaround came with a risky $150 million investment to pivot into building modular power enclosures for data centers — a gamble that paid off when cloud computing demand surged during the pandemic.

Sales jumped nearly 400% in five years, drawing acquisition interest from larger industrial players.

Walker told every potential buyer the same thing: 15% of the sale price had to go to employees.

When asked why he insisted on 15%, Walker told the Journal: “It’s more than 10%.”

Advisers warned him the condition could complicate the deal or invite lawsuits from former workers who missed out, the Journal reported.

Nonetheless, Walker pressed on.

The bonuses were structured as retention awards, paid annually over five years, requiring most employees to stay with the company to receive the full amount — a provision Walker said was critical to keeping operations stable after the sale.

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Rank and file at the Wall Street giant fumed that end-of-year payouts, revealed internally two weeks ago, looked chintzy following a much-hyped revival in dealmaking last year, according to several Goldman workers who were interviewed by The Post.

“My typical bonuses have been 50% of base or more for all the years I have been with Goldman,” said one veteran banker who requested anonymity. “This time it is nowhere close.”

Meanwhile, the bank announced on Jan. 17 that CEO Solomon — who turned 63 on the same day — received a whopping $39 million in compensation for 2024, up a staggering 26% from the previous year.

Goldman insiders are fuming at the huge bonuses handed out to the bank’s top leadership, including a $39 million payday for CEO David Solomon. REUTERS

“When news of Solomon’s bonus was released, a lot of folks here just rolled their eyes,” one equities trader told The Post. “Of course, that is where our money went.”

The trader declined to give further details on pay amid fears of being identified, but called Goldman a “cult” that strings “us along by promising us promotions or money.”

Goldmanites likewise griped about the $80 million golden handcuffs bonus that will be paid out to Solomon if he sticks around for another five years.

By comparison, Solomon’s Wall Street rival, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, was paid $39 million last year and received a $50 million retention bonus in 2021 to stay in the top job until next year.

Anger inside the firm’s 200 West Street headquarters in Lower Manhattan had already reached a boiling point on Jan. 16, the day before Solomon’s package was disclosed when some staffers clocked out early to protest at the skimpy payouts, two sources told The Post.

Some Goldman employees claimed that top brass had trimmed compensation for the rank-and-file to help boost the bank’s quarterly and full-year earnings.

“There’s a lot of frustration, anger, and disappointment. It feels demotivating when leadership seems more focused on external perceptions than internal morale,” the first source said.

Goldman’s chief operating officer John Waldron was also handed a five-year $80 million golden handcuffs deal. AFP via Getty Images

Goldman Sachs spokesman Tony Fratto said: “This is a pay for performance business.”

According to results released on Jan. 17, Goldman profits hit a three-high year high, soaring 67% to $14 billion last year as merger and acquisition activity began to roar back to life on Wall Street following a post-COVID slump.

“There are lots of unhappy people here,” said one banker. “It would seem that the good results are partly due to squeezing compensation.”

The backlash over Goldman’s bonuses spilled over onto the Wall Street Oasis forum, a popular message board for New York financiers to vent against their higher-ups,

One first-year associate griped about getting a $135,000 bonus on top of a $200,000 as a base salary, saying he was “not happy with the number.”

“I was expecting more given the strong earnings,” the entry-level banker wrote.

Another banker seethed: “The bottom line for 2024 comp is this: the firm crushed it and a lot of people who made it happen were given cheap seats at the celebration.”

Two Goldman insiders said some traders had clocked off early on Thursday Jan. 16 after learning about the size of their bonuses. REUTERS

A note to clients by Wells Fargo analyst Mike Mayo shows that the bank’s overall compensation ratio is in fact down, dropping to 32% last year from 35% in 2023.

This key measurement shows how much in percentage terms of a bank’s net revenues ends up in the pockets of employees.

A baseline salary at Goldman starts at six figures, but staffers are usually handed performance-related rewards for their relentless 80-hour workweeks

Rank-and-file bankers can make $200,000 in base pay and a six-figure bonus, which are ordinarily paid out in a mix of stock options and cash.

Senior partners at the prestigious firm can regularly pick up eight-figure bonuses each year alongside a roughly $950,000 salary.

Fortune Magazine reported last week that bankers at JPMorgan were also unhappy with their payouts.

A report by New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli had forecast that Wall Street bonuses were set to jump by 7.4% overall.

Some bankers were drowning their sorrows this past week amid unrest over their annual payouts. The Spaniard on West 4th Street is a popular watering hole close to Goldman Sachs. Instagram/ The Spaniard

Seasoned Wall Street watchers, opposed to the headline-grabbing “double bonuses” for senior management, argued that working at the firm brings its own benefits.

“The truth is that Goldman is a best-in-class global investment bank,” said Wells Fargo’s Mike Mayo.

“It is somewhat a microcosm of the industry. You need to pay and promote some people, while others just earn and churn. You make your money, you cash out and then the younger people move up,” he added.

While many Goldmanites grumbled about the size of their bonuses, it appears that some have found cause for some late New Year’s celebrations.

“We are selling a lot of champagne right now,” confessed one shop worker at the popular Vintry Fine Wines store underneath the Goldman Sachs headquarters in lower Manhattan.

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