GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- For the second time, J.C. Huizenga has surprised employees by sharing his profits from the sale of a company.

In March, he sold off Holland-based J.R. Automation and its smaller sister company, Stevensville-based Dane Systems, to an investment firm.

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After the sale, parent company Huizenga Automation Group gave thank you bonuses to the employees at the two West Michigan factories.

The bonuses ranged from $500 for new employees to more than $50,000 for those who had worked at the company the longest, Huizenga told MLive and The Grand Rapids Press.

"In the letter I sent to the employees, I reminded them that my goal in business is to create wealth and share it," Huizenga said. "And we all worked together at J.R. Automation and Dane Systems had amazing success. It was the right thing to share with everybody."

The surprise payout to 570 employees added up to $5.75 million. The size of the bonus each employee received was based on years of service and job responsibility.

"It was our intention that everybody from the latest hire to those who were there the longest all participated so everyone got something," said Huizenga, adding that he was seeking fairness.

Around $5 million was split up among 500 employees at J.R. Automation, while 70 employees at Dane Systems received around $750,000.

Workers weren't surprised to get a profit-sharing check the day the business changed hands because yearly profit-sharing bonuses were typical, said Bryan von Dorpowski, controller at Dane Systems

He added that the thank-you bonuses, however, were a "total surprise."

The companies, which have been affliliates for 18 years, build custom automation systems for industry. Their combined sales climbed nearly 23 percent in 2014.

Huizenga said he also rewarded employees at American Litho after he sold the Kentwood company in 2005 to Konica Minolta Graphic Imaging USA, a subsidiary of Tokyo-based film and camera giant Konica Minolta Holdings Inc.

American Litho employees received bonuses -- and a big party, too.

"We haven't figured out if we will do that yet," Huizenga said. "I think everybody wanted a bonus more than parties."

Huizenga isn't the first entrepreneur to share his take with his employees.

In 1999, entrepreneur Bob Thompson gave his 550 employees across Michigan bonuses and annuities ranging in value from $200 to more than $1 million following the sale of Grand Rapids Asphalt and its parent company, Belleville-based Thompson-McCully.

Thompson gave away $128 million from the $422 million sale of the company. The annuities were intended to make up for pensions he didn't provide his salaried staff, according to a Grand Rapids Press story.

His hourly workers received $2,000 for each year of service, while salaried workers received annuities, which are tax-deferred investments, usually in mutual funds. They are similar to individual retirement accounts (IRAs) but contributions are not tax deductible, and there are no limits on contribution amounts.

That same year, workers at Lescoa Inc. in Grand Rapids received bonuses when company founder Leslie E. Tassell sold the auto supplier to American Bumper & Manufacturing Co. of Ionia.

The largest amount employees received was $10,000.

Three years earlier in 1996, Elsa Prince made headlines when she gave away millions after she sold Holland's Prince Corp. to Johnson Controls Inc. Some workers reportedly garnered more than $10,000.

Huizenga says he wasn't inspired by anyone before him and doesn't intend his actions to prompt other entrepreneurs to do the same.

"We didn't do it to inspire anyone, we did it to do the right thing for our employees," said Huizenga, whose partner is Steve Klotz, CEO of Huizenga Automation Group. "Our employees are amazing people."

The tough part of selling the company was saying goodbye to the employees who had built a world class company, he said.

"That's really what a company is," said Huizenga. "It's not a collection of assets, it's a team of people."

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Shandra Martinez covers business for MLive/The Grand Rapids Press. Email her or follow her on Twitter @shandramartinez.

