In 1999, A Recently Divorced Masseuse Took A Gig At A Tiny Start-Up For $45 An Hour Plus Stock Options. The Name Of The Start-Up Was Google. Nearly 5 Years Later, The Company Went Public And Bonnie Brown Became A Multimillionaire
A recently divorced masseuse in Silicon Valley needed work and took a part-time gig at a scrappy little startup. What she quietly slipped into her contract before signing changed everything.
In late 1999, Bonnie Brown’s life had come apart. According to a 2008 profile in Massage & Bodywork, she was divorced after 20 years of marriage and had two grown children. NPR described her situation more directly in 2007: “Recently divorced, living with her sister, things not going so great.”
Then, in November 1999, a small Silicon Valley startup hired her as a part-time masseuse. That startup was Google.
She Wrote Stock Options Into Her Contract
Massage & Bodywork reported that Brown agreed to work 10 hours a week at $45 an hour. TechCrunch, citing The New York Times, said she was making $450 a week. That was ordinary pay. What changed her life was the equity.
“Yes, I asked for that in my contract,” she told Google Blogoscoped when asked about stock options. She added that she was offered options “on an ongoing basis throughout my work there.” NPR reported that Google decided to pay her “mostly in stock options.” She was never on staff: “It was never a set, full time experience, because I was a contractor.”
A Company Small Enough to Know Everyone
Accounts of Google’s size at the time differ a little. Massage & Bodywork says the company had 39 employees. Newser and TechCrunch, both citing The New York Times, put the number at 40. Either way, equity in a company that small usually ends up worthless.
Nearly Five Years Later, Google Went Public
“Toward the middle of 2003, it started to look pretty promising,” Brown said. Google’s final prospectus priced its IPO at $85.00 per share, and CNN/Money reported the stock closed at $100.34 on its first trading day, Aug. 19, 2004. Per Massage & Bodywork, she left Google after five years.
Sudden Wealth Came Without a Plan
The Times, as summed up by Newser, and the 2008 profile both describe her as a multimillionaire. Nobody has ever disclosed a dollar figure. According to Newser, her financial adviser suggested selling, but she kept a few shares: “I saved enough stock for a rainy day, and lately it’s been pouring.” Newser also reported that an estimated 1,000 current and former Google workers held more than $5 million in company shares.
Retirement was hard at first. The profile says her “lack of a plan and her unsettling freedom prompted her to start a private foundation.” Her advice: “It’s a frightening feeling when you have no plan. I don’t recommend it.” On coping, she said, “I give. That helps.” She later wrote a memoir, Giigle: How I Got Lucky Massaging Google.
What Her Story Teaches About Asking for Equity
A stock option is the right to buy shares later at a fixed price. If the company grows, the gap between that price and the market price goes to you. Early-stage companies are short on cash and long on shares, so a request for equity costs them little and often gets a yes.
Her result is far from typical. Most startup equity never pays off, and keeping your wealth in a single stock is risky. Taxes add another layer. The IRS says option holders may owe income tax when the option is granted, when it is exercised or when the shares are sold, depending on whether you receive a nonstatutory stock option or a statutory stock option. A tax adviser is worth paying for. Brown’s memoir title gives luck the credit.
Google Grew Into a $400 Billion Business
The startup she joined became Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL | GOOGL Price Prediction, NASDAQ:GOOG). Its revenue exceeded $400B for the first time in 2025, and third-quarter 2026 revenue made $127.58 billion. Chief executive Sundar Pichai says the company is “now on a half-trillion dollar revenue run rate.” As of 10:46 AM ET today, the shares traded at $285.27, down 12.19% on the day. The stock has split since the IPO, including a 20-for-1 split in 2022, so today’s price can’t be compared directly with the $85 IPO price.
The lesson from Brown’s story is simple: she asked for a share of the company.
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AJ spent 10 years writing about financial markets at The Motley Fool. His coverage centers on technology stocks and the broader macroeconomic trends, from interest rates to geopolitics, that shape where markets are headed next. AJ is drawn to the stories where big-picture economics and individual companies collide.
