Here's what happened when a CEO slashed his own salary by 90 percent and gave it to his employees

Criticism is part of the job when you're the head of a successful company, and Dan Price received plenty of it six years ago when he announced a radical shake-up at Gravity Payments.

It was in 2015 that Price, the credit card processing company's CEO, announced he would cut his own $1 million salary by 90 percent. Not only that, he also announced plans to bring the salaries of his 130 employees up to a minimum of $70,000 per year.

The move was surprising, and definitely wasn't par for the course in the world of business. A study from the Economic Policy Institute found CEOs in the United States typically make 320 times as much as their workers, and most receive lucrative salaries averaging $21.3 million a year as of 2019.

Today, it seems Price's decision has worked out for the best. On the sixth anniversary of his announcement, Price revealed on Twitter that Gravity's revenue has tripled since 2015.

"Six years later and our revenue has tripled. More importantly, our staff and company are thriving in various ways," Price tells PEOPLE. "[We have a] 10-time increase in new homes bought and babies born. Employees have increased savings and paid down debts."

Ben Reilly wrote:It's almost as though people have a false idea of what capitalism has to be, i.e. that employees must be paid shit wages and CEOs and other top management should make 300 times what their workers earn, and if a CEO decides not to buy into that mentality, he's a socialist -- doing what exaclty? Redistributing his own wealth?

I found it impressive that $900,000 per year was enough to lift 129 other people's wages to a minimum of $70,000 per year.

I'm sure this company isn't the only one doing stuff like this -- too bad that corporations are led by so many sociopaths, or there would be more compassionate companies.

eddie wrote:I think you’re slightly missing the point Maddog.

Ben Reilly wrote:But let's play around with your 7 grand figure. For example, how much do you have to have/earn in order for $7,000 to be a significant amount of money?

I'd argue that you don't throw around 7 grand until you're making at least $300,000 per year, if not more. So that extra 7 grand meant more vacations, maybe a vehicle or home upgrade, etc. to most of his employees.

Ben Reilly wrote:It's sad that nobody can do anything good anymore, because every time someone does something good, they're only looking for attention and people to call them heroes -- "virtue signalling."

Making virtue signalling into a bad thing is an excellent way to make doing bad things seem more honest and genuine than doing good things.

Works out well for the baddies! But of course, I'm worse than the baddies, because I only said all of this to make people think I'm a good person.

Maddog wrote:

Ben Reilly wrote:It's sad that nobody can do anything good anymore, because every time someone does something good, they're only looking for attention and people to call them heroes -- "virtue signalling."

Making virtue signalling into a bad thing is an excellent way to make doing bad things seem more honest and genuine than doing good things.

Works out well for the baddies! But of course, I'm worse than the baddies, because I only said all of this to make people think I'm a good person.

People can do good things.  

But he went public with this and wanted some scrutiny.


If it all works in the end for him and his employees it's great.  

eddie wrote:

Maddog wrote:

People can do good things.  

But he went public with this and wanted some scrutiny.


If it all works in the end for him and his employees it's great.  

Well it has worked for him and his employees. Read the story dude.