<story><title>At Chobani, Now It’s Not Just the Yogurt That’s Rich</title><url>http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/27/business/a-windfall-for-chobani-employees-stakes-in-the-company.html?_r=0</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>mjfern</author><text>It&amp;#x27;s great to see a founder CEO (Hamdi Ulukaya) making a bold ethical move like this to support his employees. It&amp;#x27;s not flashy or earth shaking, but it&amp;#x27;s very real and it will definitely change many lives for the better.&lt;p&gt;This story reminds me tangentially of the time when Hewlett and Packard, when faced with a downturn at HP, decided to cut pay across the board so the company could avoid layoffs. Once HP recovered, I&amp;#x27;m assuming they reinstated previous salary levels and then some. HP then benefited from a highly committed and skilled workforce who deeply respected their leaders and company.&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, these stories reflect the (very rare) exception and not the rule. Today, we&amp;#x27;re much more likely to see CEOs and executive teams earning (multiple) millions in salary and options, all the while they are outsourcing jobs, implementing layoffs, converting full-time jobs to contract and part-time jobs, and so on. These CEOs are extracting as much wealth as they can, at the expense of their employees.&lt;p&gt;We desperately need more ethical, bold leaders like Ulukaya, Hewlett, and Packard who are going to shape the future of business; a future that is kinder, compassionate, and community-minded.</text></comment>
<story><title>At Chobani, Now It’s Not Just the Yogurt That’s Rich</title><url>http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/27/business/a-windfall-for-chobani-employees-stakes-in-the-company.html?_r=0</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>andrewfong</author><text>&amp;gt; But unlike many of those tech companies, Mr. Ulukaya is giving his employees a piece of the company after its value is firmly established.&lt;p&gt;I wonder how they set this up tax-wise. Stock grants are income, even before you sell. In tech companies, you typically get the stock when it&amp;#x27;s super cheap, so the tax hit is minimal. But here, since the value&amp;#x27;s pretty firmly established, the employee is potentially on the hook for quite a bit. And depending on the details of the grant, it may not be possible for employees to sell off their stock to pay taxes.&lt;p&gt;There are several ways to solve this. The employees could be getting options (set up so taxes are deferred until they exercise). Or the company could just eat the tax themselves. But kind of curious which route they took.</text></comment>