Gravity Payments
 | |
| Private | |
| Founded | Seattle, Washington, February 2004 |
| Headquarters | Ballard, Seattle, Washington, United States |
Key people | Dan Price, Co-Founder and CEO |
| Products | Credit card processing |
Number of employees | 100-200 |
| Website |
www |
Gravity Payments is a credit-card processing and financial services company. The company was founded in February, 2004 by brothers Lucas and Dan Price. The company is headquartered in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle, Washington and employs over 100 people.
The company received media attention in 2015 when CEO Dan Price announced that all employees would receive a minimum wage of $70,000.[1]
History
Gravity Payments was co-founded in February 2004 by Lucas and Dan Price. [2]
By June 2008 the company was the largest credit card processor in Washington, serving over 15,000 clients country-wide.[2]
In 2013 Dan Price increased pay for all employees earning less than $100,000 by 2%, as a response to the lapse of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012.[3] The company also provides unlimited paid time off to employees.[4]
In April 2015, Dan Price announced that over the next three years, the company would raise the pay of all employees to at least $70,000 per year, stating this was the minimum needed to secure them from financial hardship when hit by unexpected expenses. Price, who previously paid himself a $1 million yearly salary, cut his own salary down to $70,000 to partially cover the increased pay for employees.[1][5] The change lost the company two long-standing employees due to the flat payment structure.[5][6]
In October 2015, Dan Price was sued by his brother and co-founder Lucas Price over claims that Dan received excessive compensation and that he had been working against Lucas' interests. Dan prevailed in the case on July 8th, 2016 and was awarded attorney's fees and other expenses incurred from the lawsuit.[7]
References
- 1 2 "One Company's New Minimum Wage: $70,000 a Year". NY Times. 2015-04-13. Retrieved 2015-01-21.
- 1 2 Burton, Lynsi (June 22, 2008). "Credit him with business savvy". Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
- ↑ Grunbaum, Rani (January 5, 2013). "Seattle company gives 2% raises to make up for pay tax". Seattle Times.
- ↑ Volastro, Anthony (February 17, 2004). "Unlimited paid vacation: Too good to be true?". CNBC.
- 1 2 Cohen, Patrica (2015-07-31). "A Company Copes With Backlash Against the Raise That Roared". The New York Times. Retrieved 2015-08-20.
- ↑ Millward, David (2015-08-02). "CEO counting cost of £45,000 minimum wage decision". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2015-08-20.
- ↑ Bishop, Todd (2016-07-08). "Dan Price, the '$70k CEO,' prevails in lawsuit filed by his brother and Gravity Payments co-owner". Geekwire. Retrieved 2016-07-21.