This is a publicity stunt sure. But a lot of people develop amazing things that make a lot of money, without actually benefiting from that money. For instance

This is a publicity stunt sure. But a lot of people develop amazing things that make a lot of money, without actually benefiting from that money. For instance, if you work for GSK, and lead a team that discovers the next Penicillin, GSK makes a lot of money. Your pay goes from 100K per year to 200K per year, and you get a big promotion. But you don't get a true share of the reward, because you did not truly share the risk (GSK funded a lot of projects that did not work out). Similarly, someone working in Academia as an employee might make a brilliant discovery. The organization would get the license money, and they would be able to get a cushy tenured professor job wherever they liked. But they wouldn't get a true share of the reward. Amazing discoveries are likely to be made by an employee, because large organizations are able to fund high risk/high reward projects. I think it's important, even as a token gesture, to reward them for being lucky enough to get results.