The owner of a Seattle credit card processing company surprised his staff by announcing that he would raise the minimum salary for his employees to $70,000 a year.
According to The New York Times, Dan Price, the founder of Gravity Payments, got the idea after reading an article on happiness that said the extra money made a big difference in the lives of people who make less than $70,000 a year.
Price surprised his staff of 120 with the announcement on Monday that he planned to raise the salary of the lowest-paid employees over the next three years.
Price said he would pay for the wage hikes by cutting his nearly $1 million-a-year salary to $70,000 and using 75 percent to 80 percent of the company's anticipated profits this year.
About 70 employees will benefit from the raise, with 30 doubling their salaries at the end of three years, The Times said.
The average salary at the company is $48,000.
Price told The Times that he found the market rate for a CEO compared to a "regular person" absurd.
Price started the company in 2004 when he was 19.
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