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Dan Price: Capitalism’s Hero and Role Model
Gravity Payments’ former CEO faces a hailstorm of criticism — but is he really just a balloon filled with hot air and b.s.?
Several years ago when I first heard about Gravity Payments’ former CEO Dan Price “cutting his salary” to $70,000 and paying all of the company’s workers the same (or higher, I presume), I thought, “He’s the owner, this is meaningless” — for him. If you do not understand what I am saying, you do not understand how this works. Price probably never paid himself $1 million or $70,000 through payroll.
He is the owner. He pays himself out of profit. By the end, I’ve read, he was the sole owner and sole corporate shareholder. He probably still legally owns Gravity Payments.
Price became somewhat of a hero or standard-bearer because of his pro-worker social media messages. They were shared frequently — the guy had a cool anti-CEO look and he seemed like he said the “right things” …
It was all so reminiscent of George W. Bush’s “compassionate capitalism”.
If you don’t do business, work in equity fundraising, know nothing about lending practices or payment gateways, what I’m going to say here may sound cynical to you.
