Price, who heads up the Seattle payment processing firm Gravity Payments that he founded, has pledged to make sure all of his staffers make at least $70,000 annually² in the next three years.

 

To do that he's cutting his $1 million salary to $70,000, and dipping into the firm's annual $2 million in profits.

 

This will double the pay of about 30 of his workers and will mean significant raises for an additional 40.

 

Price told employees of the new pay policy at a meeting Monday. For several moments there was stunned³ silence before people broke into applause and high fives said Phillip Akhavan, a merchants relations worker whose $43,000 salary immediately jumped 16% to $50,000.

 

"It took us a moment to understand what he was saying," said Akhavan. His first call was to his wife, who he said didn't believe him at first.

 

Nydelis Ortiz, a 25-year old underwriter who only started work there in January called her parents with the news. The family had struggled with homelessness after they moved to the states from Puerto Rico when she was a girl, and Ortiz, who also is now paid $50,000 said she now makes more than both her parents combined.

 

"My mom cried when I told her," she said. Her $36,000 salary was one of the lowest in the company.

 

Jason Byrd, 38, had struggled to get by in Seattle on his $40,000 salary as a technician. "This gives us so much freedom to just do our jobs and not have to worry about money," he said. He said he'll save some of his extra pay, and try to pay down some of the $42,000 he owes in student loans. "I almost bought a new Jeep today, then I decided⁴ I'll keep driving this one until it dies," he said.

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