Business

Real estate company surprises employees with $14.6m bonus

December 12, 2019 11:35 am

Employees at a US real estate company were surprised with a collective US$10 million bonus. (Source: St John's Properties/CNN)

When a Maryland real estate company handed out red envelopes to employees during the annual holiday party on Saturday, no one knew what to expect.

So when the 198 employees of St John Properties received surprise bonuses averaging US$50,000 ($73,412.80), it was a holiday miracle most didn’t see coming.

All the bonuses totaled around US$10 million ($14,682,560).

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“When I opened the envelope, I was in total disbelief,” Stephanie Ridgway, an assistant project manager at the company, told CNN.

“I couldn’t believe I saw what I saw. I don’t even have words to properly describe how I felt, it was just amazing and incredible. I’m still in shock. It’s definitely life-changing.”

St John Properties President Lawrence Maykrantz told CNN the company had reached a major goal of developing 20 million square feet in real estate, doubling the amount in 14 years.

“We wanted to do something to thank all our employees for helping us achieve our goal, and we wanted to do something big,” Mr Maykrantz told CNN.

Each employee received money based on the number of years they have been working at the company.

The smallest amount, $100, was for an employee who was just hired and hadn’t even started at the company yet.

The largest bonus was $270,000.