Billionaire Mark Cuban says it’s time workers got a cut of their company’s success—as executives see their wealth hit record highs. And luckily for Samsung employees, that shift is happening for the first time.
The global tech giant will now award shares and bonuses based on stock price to its employees outside of just corner offices as a part of its latest move in salary adjustments.
Earlier this year, Samsung decided to give some of its top executives’ bonuses in stock instead of all cash, resulting in high-pay for its leaders. Now, they’re sharing the wealth with all employees.
Before this, the only other time regular workers ever got stock was when Samsung gave everyone 30 shares once as part of a union deal. Other than that one-time gift, this is the first time the company is offering stock awards to all staff. And the shift could mean a major payday for staff outside the C-suite.
Samsung staff could gain $20,000 worth of stock over 3 years
Under the new program, the firm will grant payouts to staff over three years based on Samsung’s stock price starting this October through October 2028, according to an internal memo seen by Bloomberg. It will also offer workers the option to get up to half of that payout in shares instead of cash, the memo outlined.
A separate report from South Korea’s main public broadcasting service, KBS, outlined that Samsung will allocate between 200 and 300 shares to each employee over the three years, depending on their career level.
With a market cap of about $448 billion, Samsung’s shares are up 44% year-to-date. Last week, the company closed at an all-time high, after investors were optimistic on the future of AI chips and confidence in its conventional memory business. At the current share price (around $68.84), 200 to 300 shares would equate to between $13,768 and $20,652.
The shift echoes what billionaire entrepreneur and investor Mark Cuban has been fighting for. Earlier this week, he expressed his frustration to employers about how wealth gains from soaring stock prices are only being made at the top.
Responding to a recent Oxfam report about billionaire wealth increasing by $33 trillion since 2015, Cuban posted on X that the reason behind the surge is that “the stock market has gone straight up.”
“You know who is funding the increase, particularly lately? Retail investors. 401ks,” Cuban wrote. “The better question is, why are we not giving incentives to companies to require them to give shares in their companies to all employees, at the same percentage of cash earnings as the CEO?”
Fortune has contacted Samsung for comment.
Paychecks aren’t enough anymore, employees want ownership
Part of Samsung’s move could be dissatisfaction with the way competitors are offering compensation packages. For example, rival chipmaker SK hynix Inc., a major provider to tech giant Nvidia, agreed to give 10% of its yearly profits to employee bonuses. The move by the tech giant set a more transparent bonus system in South Korea’s tech industry.
Since then, Samsung’s labor unions want a piece of the wealth too. Pushing for something similar, they want the company to give 15% of its annual profits directly to a bonus pool for employees, according to Bloomberg’s report.
Compared to other tech giants, while many companies already offer stock ownership or profit-sharing, many cap what employees can get.
For example, the tech company Intel has an enrollment period twice a year, where employees buy stock up to 15% of their salary at a 15% discount—or a maximum of $21,250 a year. Meanwhile, tech giant Adobe offers employees to contribute up to 25% of their salaries (with a maximum of $21,250 per year) at a 15% discount.
