Chobani gives ownership stake to employees

NEW YORK

AFP photo

The 2,000 full-time employees of Chobani were handed an ownership stake in the yogurt company that could make some of them millionaires, as reported by New York Times on April 26.

Hamdi Ulukaya, the Turkish immigrant who founded Chobani in 2005 in the United States, told workers at the company’s plant in upstate New York that he would be giving them shares worth up to 10 percent of the company when it goes public or is sold, according to the report. The goal, he said, is to pass along the wealth they have helped build in the decade since the company started. Chobani is now widely considered to be worth several billion dollars. 

“I’ve built something I never thought would be such a success, but I cannot think of Chobani being built without all these people,” Ulukaya said in an interview in his Manhattan office that was granted on the condition that no details of the program would be disclosed before the announcement, as quoted by New York Times. “Now they’ll be working to build the company even more and building their future at the same time.” Two years ago, when Chobani received a loan from TPG Capital, the company’s value was at $3 billion to $5 billion. At the $3 billion valuation, the average employee payout would be $150,000. The earliest
employees, though, will most likely be given many more shares.