I would suspect (though I am not a fancy CEO man) that it is generally best not to talk to employees about what a great deal you got on them, like they are cogs

I would suspect (though I am not a fancy CEO man) that it is generally best not to talk to employees about what a great deal you got on them, like they are cogs in your supply chain that you got on clearance. It would only be marginally better if you complained about how expensive they were (especially if many of them benefited from the sale minimally as common stock employees). I think it would be better to, you know, welcome them to the team and treat them like people.