CEO Gives All Of Her 500+ Employees $10,000 Each And Two First-Class Tickets To Anywhere In The World
After giving all of her staff a fantastic present, one woman has been dubbed the finest boss in the world.
CNN reported last week that Blackstone, an investment management firm, had bought a controlling ownership in Spanx, valuing the shapewear business at $1.2 billion.
Spanx’s creator and CEO, Sara Blakely, surprised her employees with two first-class tickets to anywhere in the world during a celebration of the deal. She’s also giving each of them $10,000 to use on the vacation.
Blakely shared a video on social media of the happy moment she announced the gifts, and the staff were stunned by the news, with some crying and others slack-jawed.
In her late twenties, Sara Blakely started Spanx as a side hustle while selling fax machines door-to-door.
Sara Blakely, who will hold a’significant’ financial position in the company and become its executive chairwoman, said, “This is a tremendously critical moment in time for female entrepreneurs.” She established Spanx in 2000 with just $5,000 in savings.
“I started this firm with little business expertise and very little money,” she revealed in a statement. “But I cared most about the consumer, and that gave me the guts to establish the company.”
Two decades later, the corporation is celebrating the purchase of a controlling interest by Blackstone.
Spanx will be able to grow its worldwide reach and product portfolio as a result of the agreement, according to the firms.
Shapewear is a figure-hugging undergarment that smooths, slims, or otherwise changes the contour of the body.
According to Allied Industry Research, the worldwide compression and shapewear market is estimated to reach $7 billion by 2030.
Sara Blakely, the inventor of Spanx, was named the youngest self-made female millionaire by Forbes in 2012. She added at the time, “My desire is for there to be many more female innovators.” “Women’s involvement is critical.”
Spanx was valued at $1.2 billion in the purchase.
Blackstone and Spanx have also stated that they want the clothing company to have an all-female board of directors.
According to a 2019 Harvard Business Review research, just approximately 12% of decision-makers at VC firms are women, and the majority of businesses still don’t have a single female partner.
Some argue that the epidemic has made investors more wary of risks and more inclined to adhere to their old networks, which are typically “boys’ clubs” and difficult to get into for women.
Blakely threw a party for her staff to celebrate the sale.
She also informed the employees that they would each receive two first-class jet tickets to anyplace in the globe, as well as $10,000 in spending money.
Employees were screamed at, cheered for, and cried for.
Several trips to Croatia, South Africa, and Bora Bora were discussed.
“Never underestimate what you can achieve if you sincerely care,” she said on Instagram.
Blakely’s generous offering is reminiscent of Dan Price’s famous philosophy. Gravity Payments, the firm he founded in his teens, had roughly 2,000 clients and was valued at millions of dollars. Price used to make $1.1 million a year, but he cut his compensation by 90% a few years ago to raise his company’s basic salary to $70,000.
Then there’s Madeline Pendleton, who has a clothing line and a vintage boutique in Los Angeles and likewise took a significant wage reduction to ensure that her staff could live well.
These activities may not fix all of capitalism’s ills on their own, but they may alter hundreds of lives and can sometimes be all that is required to start a systemic shift.
At Spanx, people were excited for everyone.
