THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, May 11, 1996 TAG: 9605110002
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A11 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Opinion
SOURCE: Patrick Lackey
LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines
When a pair of Richmond men sold their company last week, they thanked the workers who'd helped them quadruple its value.
They didn't thank them with mere handshakes or watches or, heaven forbid, sentimental speeches.
They thanked them with money - roughly $50 million in surprise bonuses. It was one of those emotional times when true gratefulness is best expressed by a check, the bigger the better.
Each employee's bonus equaled a tenth of his or her salary multiplied by the number of years the employee had worked for the two Richmond men. They had owned the company 13 years. Thus the biggest bonuses were 130 percent of current annual salary, up to a maximum of $100,000.
The average bonus was $12,500, roughly half the average full-time salary.
Needless to say, many a jaw dropped in astonishment. A few former employees also received bonuses.
The company is AMF. You've probably glimpsed its bowling-equipment factory off Interstate 295 in eastern Hanover County. According to a Richmond Times-Dispatch story about the bonuses, AMF owns 207 bowling centers in the United States and 70 overseas. It employs roughly 4,000 people worldwide. Its headquarters are in Hanover County.
The men paying the bonuses were AMF Chairman William H. Goodwin and AMF Vice Chairman Beverley W. Armstrong. (Those are last names that show promise: good win and arm strong) The pair built AMF into the nation's largest bowling business. Analysts said the men quadrupled their initial investment of $225 million.
They sold the company last week to an investment group for a reported $1 billion - the biggest bowling deal ever.
Armstrong said the parting gifts were meant to reward workers for building AMF into the global company it is today.
``We thought all employees contributed to the success of the company,'' he said, ``not just the management of the company.''
I mentioned to Armstrong that $50 million would buy a lot of nice cars and asked him if he and Goodwin felt any regrets when they kissed the $50 million goodbye. ``None whatsoever,'' he said, ``because they deserved a share of the success.'' The company was in financial trouble when Goodwin and Armstrong took it over, Armstrong said. ``The hard work and dedication of employees,'' Armstrong said, ``turned it around.''
I cannot recall any other company ever rewarding employees so handsomely when it was sold.
When most companies are sold or merged, employees are too worried about pink slips to dream of bonuses.
Armstrong was right when he said the AMF employees helped turn the company around. But the fact the bonuses were earned does not subtract from the two owners' altruism. The folks getting the bonuses no longer work for Goodwin and Armstrong. If the workers are inspired by the bonuses to try harder or be more faithful, it's for a company now owned by an investment group.
And speaking of investment groups, can you, in your wildest imagination, picture an investment group awarding thank-you bonuses to employees of a company it had just sold? Maybe to higher management, but to everyone?
In today's hyper-competitive, bottom-line world, it's good to learn of two Richmond men who said thanks with their checkbooks. ``I hope,'' Armstrong said, ``it spurs others to do the same.''
Surely I speak for salaried employees everywhere when I add, ``So do I.'' MEMO: Mr. Lackey is an editorial writer for The Virginian-Pilot. by CNB