Why Is This Important?
Because this guy's radical policy may have shaken up the way businesses approach salaries.
Long Story Short
Gravity Payments CEO Dan Price made headlines worldwide when he raised his employees' salary to a minimum of $70,000 a year. About 15 months after doing that, his staff surprised Price with his dream car — a Tesla.
Long Story
You might've heard of Dan Price — the radical CEO of credit card transactions company Gravity Payments, who decided that no one on his staff of 120 would be paid less than $70,000. To do that, Price had to shave his own salary way down from $1.1 million to the new company minimum, while bringing up the salary for 70 of his staff who were making closer to the average company wage of $48,000.
“I want to fight for the idea that if someone is intelligent, hard-working and does a good job, then they are entitled to live a middle-class lifestyle,” explained Price to The New York Times.
But while some have praised Price as a selfless hero, he was dispelled as a commie and socialist by others. In the backlash, Gravity lost clients and top employees and was simultaneously sued by his brother who was his former business partner (there were suggestions that Price decided to lower his own wage in reaction to the suit, which was filed initially because of the CEO's inflated salary).
The public has had their say about how they feel about Price's radical salary strategy, but what about his current employees? They appear to be pretty grateful for the salary boost and decided to thank their generous boss with a pretty special gift. Price's employees bought their boss something he's wanted for a long time — a brand new Tesla.
Watch the heartwarming moment captured on video (and make sure to watch for Price's shocked reaction):