The NASPP Blog

Last week it was widely reported that the founder of Chobani (yes, the yogurt company) became the latest to join a recent trend of CEOs who are sharing their wealth with employees in the form of stock.

Chobani Founder and CEO, Hamidi Ulukaya, committed to give shares to his 2,000 employees equal to an estimated 10% of the company. Chobani is still a privately held company, so its exact present value is not known. But recent estimates put the company’s value between $3 billion to $5 billion.

While such a practice may be more prevalent in tech startup companies, Chobani is in an entirely different industry – the food industry. That’s part of what makes this move by Chobani’s CEO so unique. Sharing equity (especially pre-IPO) in a food company is not the norm, or even common. It’s a rare occurrence. Additionally, Chobani is giving shares to employees after a decade of being in business and after a value has been established, which makes this even more interesting.

In a New York Times article “At Chobani, Now It’s Not Just the Yogurt That’s Rich,” CEO Ulukaya was quoted as saying “I’ve built something I never thought would be such a success, but I cannot think of Chobani being built without all these people. Now they’ll be working to build the company even more and building their future at the same time.”

One Chobani employee’s reaction was also reported in the NY Times article, and it seemed like the perceived value component that every company strives for when issuing equity to employees. When one of the original employees, Rich Lake, was asked about his new shares, he said “It’s better than a bonus or a raise. It’s the best thing because you’re getting a piece of this thing you helped build.” I know HR consultants and stock plan people everywhere are cheering because isn’t that exactly what you want to hear an employee say about their stock awards?

We’ve seen other CEOs handing over portions of their shares to employees in recent months. Hopefully this trend will continue, as more executives see the value of sharing in the equity pie as a team. After all, to sum it up with a sports phrase – there is no “I” in team. And I’m guessing Chobani’s CEO would agree that given the huge success of the company in a decade, the team is well deserving of their stake in the company.

-Jenn