Yes, you read that headline right! The Seattle Times is reporting that Gravity Payments employees have purchased a brand new Tesla Model S for their CEO. You’ll remember that Gravity Payments is the same company responsible for increasing the salaries of all its employees, to $70,000 annually.
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The CEO, Dan Price, has gone through a rough patch over the last year after making that big announcement. His brother—who was also the cofounder of Gravity Payments—sued him for breach of contract. Price also had to list his house on Airbnb in order to make ends meet, until he could adjust to his new salary (Price took an almost $300,000 pay cut in order to give his employees more money).
After Price announced he was increasing salaries, Gravity Payments saw an influx of extra attention. Gravity received tons of phone calls, e-mails, and social media posts surrounding the announcement, which also led to thousands of people applying to the company—because who doesn’t want to make $70,000 a year to start. Unfortunately, many customers left for fear they would be charged more to cover the pay difference, and even a few key employees backed out.
In the end, though, all 135 Gravity employees were able to “give back” and chipped in to buy Price his dream car. The company posted the following message to its Facebook page:
“Last April, our CEO, Dan Price, surprised all of us when he decided to raise the minimum wage for the entire team to $70,000. A year later, we decided to turn the tables and give him a taste of his own medicine. All of us pitched in in some small way and bought Dan his dream car—a Tesla. This was a special way for us all to thank him for all of the sacrifices he’s made and challenges he’s faced for each of us. Through all of the successes and challenges of the past year, Dan has never once put himself first.”