Overview
- Eaton bought Fibrebond for about $1.7 billion in April, honoring CEO Graham Walker’s requirement to allocate 15% of proceeds to staff with no equity.
- Roughly 540 to 550 full‑time employees are sharing $240 million, with awards weighted by tenure and averaging about $443,000 per person.
- Payments began in mid‑2025 under a multi‑year retention schedule administered by Eaton, with outlets reporting either five or six annual installments.
- Employees report using the money to pay mortgages, clear debt, fund education or retirement, and some retired early, while Minden’s local economy saw a spending boost.
- A $150 million pivot into data‑center power enclosures drove roughly 400% sales growth that led to the sale, and Walker plans to step down as CEO on December 31.