CEO Gives All Of Her 500+ Employees $10,000 Each And Two First-Class Tickets To Anywhere In The World
One woman is being called the best boss in the world after she gifted all of her employees one heck of a present.
Last week, CNN reported that investment management company Blackstone had purchased a majority stake in Spanx, valuing the shapewear brand at a whopping $1.2 billion.
Sara Blakely, Spanx’s founder and CEO, surprised her staff with two first-class tickets each to anywhere in the world during a party celebrating the deal. She is also giving them $10,000 each to spend on the trip.
Blakely posted a video on social media of the joyous moment when she announced the gifts, and the employees were so dumbfounded by the news, some of them cried, while others were slack-jawed.
Sara Blakely began Spanx as a side business while selling fax machines door-to-door in her late 20s
Image credits: sarablakely
“This is a really important moment in time for female entrepreneurs,” Sara Blakely, who will keep a ‘significant’ equity stake in the business and become its executive chairwoman, said, adding that when she founded Spanx in 2000, she did so with just $5,000 in savings.
“I started this company with no business experience and very little money, but I cared the most about the customer, and that gave me the courage to launch the company,” she explained in a statement.
Two decades later, the company is celebrating Blackstone buying a majority stake
The companies said the deal would allow Spanx to ramp up its online presence and expand its global footprint and product line.
Shapewear is often worn as a figure-hugging undergarment that smooths, slims, or otherwise alters the body shape. The global compression and shapewear market is expected to hit $7 billion by 2030, according to Allied Market Research.
Interestingly, in 2012, Spanx founder Sara Blakely was crowned by Forbes as the youngest self-made female billionaire. “My dream is for there to be many more female inventors,” she said back then. “We need the contribution of women.”
The deal valued Spanx at $1.2 billion
Blackstone and Spanx also said that they want to create an all-female board of directors at the apparel firm. These plans come at a time when only about 12% of decision-makers at VC firms are women, and most firms still don’t have a single female partner, according to a 2019 Harvard Business Review analysis.
Some speculate that the pandemic may have made investors warier of risks and more likely to stick to their existing networks, which is usually very much a “boys’ club” and tougher for women to break into.
Blakely announced the sale to her employees with a party
She also told the staff that each person would get two first-class plane tickets to anywhere in the world, plus $10,000 spending money
The employees were screaming, cheering, and crying
Several shared plans to go to Croatia, South Africa, and Bora Bora
“Never underestimate what you can do if you truly care the most,” she told her Instagram followers
View this post on Instagram
Blakely’s generous gift is reminiscent of the philosophy popularized by Dan Price. He set up his company, Gravity Payments, in his teens, and it had about 2,000 customers and was estimated to be worth millions of dollars. Price was earning $1.1M but a couple of years back slashed his pay by 90% in order to increase the minimum salary at his company to $70,000.
Then there’s Madeline Pendleton, who has a clothing line and vintage shop in Los Angeles and also took a huge pay cut so that her employees could earn a decent living.
These actions on their own might not solve all of capitalism’s problems, but in addition to changing hundreds of lives, single acts of kindness are sometimes all we need to initiate a systemic change.
People were really happy for everyone at Spanx
She understands what a good, no a GREAT boss is. Kudos to her and I wish her and her company abundance and prosperity. In contrast, I asked my boss for a raise last year and he said we don't do raises - you should feel lucky you have a job. Meanwhile the company just spent €30,000 on renovating the CEO's already luxurious office and also splurged €145,000,000 on buying a new office building
Right! Kind of like "we're broke and have to cut back"... while spending millions to aquire 3 more community hospitals (only to demolish and rebuild them)... and also add another block-wide building addition across the street from the flagship hospital (which I work at). Why pay nurses (and other Healthcare workers) a competitive wage... it's not like we're having a lot of high turnover related to a pandemic or anything...
Load More Replies...I wish my boss would see this. "Be good for your staff and your staff be good for you and the company benefits from it". I'm a strong believer in this. Be good doesn't always mean given them money or any form of value. Just be kind, respect and show appreciation. This doesn't cost a thing and you will get some much in return.
I love the quote written on the coffee cup on her desk: THIS IS YOUR WORLD. SHAPE IT, OR SOMEONE ELSE WILL. If she wrote a self-help book I would definitely read it.
Isn't it a shameful comparison that this lady is so incredible and made so many others cry with joy, while employees at Amazon have to file lawsuits to be able to be "allowed" to take bathroom breaks during the workday?
I think this is amazing. If only all bosses could see the hard work their employees put in to make their business grow and prosper. Mine just decreases our bonus. If he even wants to give one!!
Probably the best entry on BP that I have read this week and it's only Tuesday. A true Superwoman. 🦸♀️
Every year I get a $5 card to McDonald's and $10-25 to the closest gas station to work, depending on how profitable the year was. I bet you're super jealous!
Great stuff. Wonder if though, unlike Amazon, she paid a fair share in Federal taxes.
Please, its just a tax write-off she's not amazing. It benefits her to pay less in taxes.
This is the difference in a female vs male CEO. She shared the wealth. Bezos went to space then thanked his diaper-wearing, bathroom-break-timed employees for their hard work.
Funny how in all that thanking she did, she never once thanked Sir Richard Branson for his help after she won The Rebel Billionaire: Branson's Quest for the Best. That show gave her a lot of exposure that she otherwise would not have gotten and a boost of financing she needed to get her product into the market.
She understands what a good, no a GREAT boss is. Kudos to her and I wish her and her company abundance and prosperity. In contrast, I asked my boss for a raise last year and he said we don't do raises - you should feel lucky you have a job. Meanwhile the company just spent €30,000 on renovating the CEO's already luxurious office and also splurged €145,000,000 on buying a new office building
Right! Kind of like "we're broke and have to cut back"... while spending millions to aquire 3 more community hospitals (only to demolish and rebuild them)... and also add another block-wide building addition across the street from the flagship hospital (which I work at). Why pay nurses (and other Healthcare workers) a competitive wage... it's not like we're having a lot of high turnover related to a pandemic or anything...
Load More Replies...I wish my boss would see this. "Be good for your staff and your staff be good for you and the company benefits from it". I'm a strong believer in this. Be good doesn't always mean given them money or any form of value. Just be kind, respect and show appreciation. This doesn't cost a thing and you will get some much in return.
I love the quote written on the coffee cup on her desk: THIS IS YOUR WORLD. SHAPE IT, OR SOMEONE ELSE WILL. If she wrote a self-help book I would definitely read it.
Isn't it a shameful comparison that this lady is so incredible and made so many others cry with joy, while employees at Amazon have to file lawsuits to be able to be "allowed" to take bathroom breaks during the workday?
I think this is amazing. If only all bosses could see the hard work their employees put in to make their business grow and prosper. Mine just decreases our bonus. If he even wants to give one!!
Probably the best entry on BP that I have read this week and it's only Tuesday. A true Superwoman. 🦸♀️
Every year I get a $5 card to McDonald's and $10-25 to the closest gas station to work, depending on how profitable the year was. I bet you're super jealous!
Great stuff. Wonder if though, unlike Amazon, she paid a fair share in Federal taxes.
Please, its just a tax write-off she's not amazing. It benefits her to pay less in taxes.
This is the difference in a female vs male CEO. She shared the wealth. Bezos went to space then thanked his diaper-wearing, bathroom-break-timed employees for their hard work.
Funny how in all that thanking she did, she never once thanked Sir Richard Branson for his help after she won The Rebel Billionaire: Branson's Quest for the Best. That show gave her a lot of exposure that she otherwise would not have gotten and a boost of financing she needed to get her product into the market.
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