Texas billionaire offers all 1,300 employees a $100,000 bonus

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A Houston-area billionaire and University of Texas regent is offering every one of his more than 1,300 employees a bonus of $100,000.

As the Houston Chronicle reported in their annual Top Workplaces in November, Jeffrey Hildebrand, owner and CEO of oil and gas company Hilcorp, issued every one of his 1,399 employees bonus checks in April after the company met their annual goals with eight months ahead of schedule.

From the Chronicle:

Hilcorp CFO Shelbie Dezell said it was no easy task, but the employees did everything in their power to make it happen. "It was a stretch goal to meet that," she said. "We looked at it every month and talked about it every month. Then we had a huge celebration in the corporate office and in the field after we made it." Dezell said receiving a $100,000 bonus check was a "life-changing" event for many of the company's employees. She said some used the money to pay off debt, others to fund college for their children, and still others to purchase new homes.

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The goals met by the company included doubling its oil field production rate, net oil and gas reserves and equity value over five years.

More than 400 of the company's employees are based in Houston and it operates oil and gas exploration properties across Texas, Louisiana, Alaska and the Northeast, according to the Chronicle.

This isn't Hildebrand's first time to reward his employees with something out of the ordinary.

In 2010, Hildebrand offered each of his employees a choice of $35,000 cash of $50,000 toward a new car, according to Forbes, who asked the question "What oil bust?" in response to Hildebrand's latest bonus.

Hildebrand's net worth is an estimated $5.6 billion, making him the 73rd richest person in the world, according to Forbes. He graduated from UT-Austin in 1985, lives in Houston and was appointed as a system regent for the University of Texas in 2013, where he serves as vice chairman.

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Twitter: @KoltenParker