Atlanta’s own Sara Blakely, founder and CEO of Spanx, signed a billion-dollar deal last week with Blackstone — and celebrated the milestone by gifting her employees two first-class plane tickets and $10,000 each.
Blakely, who started the company in 2000 with $5,000 in her savings, posted a video to Instagram after the sale, where she is seen celebrating with employees.
In the video, Blakely started by saying, “When I started the company in Virginia Highlands on the whiteboard in my room, I wrote a goal down.”
“And I said this company will one day,” she said, tearing up, “I said that this company will one day be worth $20 million dollars.”
“I think it’s a really big moment in time for women, and this marks a moment for female entrepreneurs. There aren’t enough women being funded out there, there aren’t enough women getting support.”
Later in the video, she made a toast and began to spin a globe. “I’m spinning a globe because, to celebrate this moment, I have bought each one of you two first-class tickets to anywhere in the world,” she said, prompting cheers.
It gets better. She then exclaimed, “You know, if you go on a trip, you might want to go out to a really nice dinner. You might want to go out to a really nice hotel. So, with everybody’s two first-class tickets to anywhere in the world, you are each getting $10,000.”
Blakely confirmed in another Instagram post that she “will remain a significant shareholder and continue to help the business fulfill its greatest potential.”
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