CEO Dan Price gives employees $70 K minimum wage Out of His Own Pocket
SEATTLE, April 15 (UPI) — Dan Price, CEO of Gravity Payments, announced he is mandating a $70,000 minimum wage for his employees.
“You might be making $35,000 a year right now but everyone in here will definitely be making $70,000 a year and I’m super excited about that,” he told his employeesat a recent meeting.
He said he will pay for the raises by cutting his own salary by $1 million to $70,000 and using 75 to 80 percent of the company’s projected $2.2 million profit this year.
The raise will affect about 70 employees with 30 seeing a double in their income.
Price started the credit card payment-processing company when he was 19. His car is a 12-year-old Audi he got through a service barter with the dealer. His main extravagances are snowboarding and picking up bar tabs.
“As much as I’m a capitalist, there is nothing in the market that is making me do it,” he said about paying his employees enough to live beyond paycheck-to-paycheck.
The raise will be phased in over the next few years, to give the company a chance to catch up with expenses and allow employees a chance to adjust to the income increase.
