Jim Koch (of Sam Adams fame) is truly wealthy these days, but his bonus reflects a more humble business approach.  BusinessWeek has the full break-down.

But the bonus formula devised by the company’s board rewards Koch for two seemingly contradictory goals: He gets 20 percent of a predetermined bonus if he succeeds in supporting and cultivating the small-beer sector in the U.S. beverage industry—and he’s eligible for the same amount of his bonus if Boston Beer sales outpace the overall sales of its craft-beer rivals

Got that?  He gets rewarded for helping the industry (the competition), and also for beating the competition.  What?

Further, the numbers here are bordering on absurd. The guy is worth over $1 Billion and his bonus is a couple hundred thousand dollars at the top end.  Think about it this way: Anybody can get about 0.8% return in a risk-free online savings account.  That’s 8 million dollars on a billion in a single year.  When you can hang out in the hammock and drink your own beer all day and make 8 million with no risk, how can you possibly make a couple hundred grand an incentive to do anything at all?  I guess the thinking is that he would have to sell off his shares to make that happen.

In the end, though, it’s still hard to find anything negative to say about Koch:

But its worth noting that he draws a base salary of just $390,000, making for a remarkably sober approach to success. “Having watched my stock price go up and down and up, it seems almost whimsical,” Koch told Bloomberg. “I remind people getting rich is life’s great booby prize. Any normal person would much rather be happy than rich.”

I’ll drink to that.  Anybody seen any Sam Adams Black Lager around here lately?