Sorry, Apple employees – Buzzfeed staff get their Apple Watch for free

You might have seen recently that Apple employees are getting a pretty sweet deal on the Apple Watch: they can buy it for half price. Well, if they get the Apple Watch or Apple Watch Sport. Not the Apple Watch Edition (otherwise known as the insanely expensive one made from precious metals). Oh, and the discount is only valid for the first 90 days after they go on sale. But, y’know, half price.

I mean, it’s not quite the free iPhones they got when the phone first came out, but they haven’t got those since 2007. And, to be fair, not all tech companies give their staff free products or even big discounts, so it wouldn’t be bad – except for one thing.

Every single employee of Buzzfeed is getting an Apple Watch for free. Their charismatic founder and CEO, Jonah Peretti, promised the perk back in November 2014 as long as “Buzzfeed hits 200 million unique visitors and 750 million video views in a single month.”

Then, in December, he tweeted this:

We’re guessing they hit those targets, then. Nice work.

Apple being Apple, we doubt Buzzfeed will be getting any kind of bulk-buying discount, so that’ll be full retail they’re paying for the iWatch. If they go for the cheapest option – the 38mm Silver Aluminium Case Apple Watch with synthetic rubber sports band – that’s £299 per employee. Business Insider reports a staff number of 700 in November, and given the length of their hiring page, we’ll assume that’s gone up to at least 750 by now. Which means they’ll be putting £224,250 directly in Apple’s coffers for their batch of iWatches.

Should help pay for some of those staff discounts, eh Apple?