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Chinese Tech Firm's Cooks And Cleaners Become Millionaires

Chinese Tech Firm's Cooks And Cleaners Become Millionaires

Loyalty has paid dividends at a tech firm in China

Jacque Talbot

Jacque Talbot

Janitors, cleaners, factory workers and cafeteria chefs have become millionaires at a company in China.

According to Bloomberg, Sunny Optical Technology Group's stock has risen exponentially over the last ten years and its employees at ground level have struck lucky as a result.

The Hong Kong-registered business, which manufactures lenses and optical-related products, gives its employees stakes in the firm, regardless of just how long they've worked there.

As luck would have it, their stock has risen a staggering 9,500 percent since June 2008, beating the popular Netflix's 7,500 percent increase, a quite unbelievable growth.

Though the process of handing out stock to employees might seem unusual, the company is one of several tech-based companies enjoying the economic boom in China.

via GIPHY

Wang Wenjian started the company in 1984 on less than $10,000 of borrowed cash and it's now worth $22 million. Let's hope he's repaid it.

As Sunny Optical grew, Wang opted to distributed the wealth into a trust which now has stakes shared by 400 people, who own 35 percent on the company.

He allowed for workers - cooks, cleaners, factory workers and so forth - to buy shares in the company at a price based on their years of employment - the longer you've been working at the company, the cheaper the fee. And now, amazingly, many of the early employees are millionaires.

Wang left the company in 2012 and now Sunny Optical employs around 28,000 staff, with offices in the US, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan.

via GIPHY

Now Wang Wenjie is the star of the Sunny Optical show. He was a university graduate employed by the firm in 1989, but he's now vice president, who owns 4.9 percent of the business that's valued at a whopping $400 million (£297.4m).

When asked about his wealth, he said he couldn't believe the company allowed him to invest back into it, especially in the 1980s, when the top end of business remained tightly locked, with money flowing in just one direction.

Speaking in terms of yuan, he said: "In our firm, a helper handing food to you in the canteen may as well be a billionaire. We did one thing well -- building a team and keeping them growing."

It's certainly a great gesture for employees. Surely it must be my turn to become a billionaire now, though...?

Featured Image Credit: Sunny Optical Technology Group

Topics: World News, News, Money, Technology, China