Hillary Clinton praises Chobani's move to give its employees company shares

American Greek yogurt maker Chobani has given all of its employees shares in the multi-billion-dollar company - making some of them millionaires overnight… on paper at least.  

It says each of its approximately 2,000 full-time employees will receive shares based on their role and time spent with the company.

Chobani says CEO and founder Hamdi Ulukaya is meeting with employees this week to tell them about the plan in person.

‘This isn’t a gift. It’s a mutual promise to work together with a shared purpose and responsibility,’ Ulukaya wrote in a letter to employees. The plans were first reported by The New York Times. 

The Greek yogurt maker says the shares being distributed would amount to 10 percent of the company’s future value in the event of a sale or initial public offering. 

Ulukaya started Chobani in 2007 with a loan from the Small Business Administration and five employees. Today, the company produces more than $1 billion in revenue a year, said company spokesman Michael Gonda, CNN Money reported.  

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton praised Chobani’s decision to give its employees an ownership stake in the privately held company. 

Clinton applauded the move by CEO and founder, Hamdi Ulukaya, on Twitter.

‘Love this. Great to see Chobani sharing its success with the employees who helped make it possible.’ 

Ulukaya said the goal is to pass along the wealth the company has helped build in the decade since it started.

Chobani is now widely considered to be worth several billion dollars.

He told the New York Times: ‘I’ve built something I never thought would be such a success, but I cannot think of Chobani being built without all these people.’ 

Ulukaya added that the employees will now ‘be working to build the company even more and building their future at the same time’. 

Employees received a white packet with information about how many Chobani shares they were given. 

The number of shares given to each person is based on tenure, so the longer an employee has been at the company, the bigger the stake, according to The Times.

Chobani has helped lead the surging popularity in Greek yogurt, but has faced more competition in recent years.