Image source: Inc

Dan Price caused a stir a few years ago when he cut his salary of millions in the effort to raise his staff’s salary.

Recently, he has been making the rounds online, this time due to his resignation from his company, Gravity Payments.

Resignation

Dan Price recently announced his departure from Gravity Payments in a statement posted on Twitter.

“Dear colleagues, Today I resigned as CEO of Gravity Payments, the company I founded 18 years ago,” he wrote on August 18.

“Tammi Kroll, our long-time chief operating officer, has been named the company’s new CEO. 

My No. 1 priority is for our employees to work for the best company in the world, but my presence has become a distraction here.

I also need to step aside from these duties to focus full time on fighting false accusations made against me.

I’m not going anywhere.”

The accusation

Price is currently being charged with allegedly assaulting a 26-year-old woman.

Earlier this year he was charged with assault and reckless driving after allegedly trying to kiss the woman after a business meeting.

When she refused his advance, Price reportedly grabbed her by the neck.

The Seattle Times reports that Price pulled into a parking lot and performed “donuts” in his Tesla with the woman in the car.

Despite the allegations, Dan Price insists he is not guilty and denies any wrongdoing

“Mr. Price respects the legal process and is confident that he will be vindicated in court,”  his attorney said earlier this year.

Dan Price

Dan Price gained widespread recognition in 2015 when he revealed that he reduced his salary from $1 million to $70,000.

He shared that the money helped fund an initiative to raise the company’s minimum wage for employees from $48,000 to $70,000 within three years.

“I’m so happy how people’s lives are changing because they deserve it, and they deserve every penny of it,” said Price.

“For me to make the sacrifice in the short term, I’d rather this than a vacation home in Palm Springs or the Hamptons. I guarantee that this will pay off.”

Since then, Price has established himself as an outspoken advocate for workers’ rights and has built a cult following on social media.

Many of his LinkedIn posts appeal to business leaders, demand better pay and employee benefits, and regularly go viral.

Previous problems

Price has faced legal investigations and allegations of wrongdoing in his personal life over the years.

His initiative to raise the minimum wage at the company coincided with his older brother Lucas accusing Price in court of overpaying himself while violating his rights as a minority shareholder in the company. The court then ruled in favor of Dan Price.

In 2015, Bloomberg reported that the ex-wife of then Gravity Payments boss Kristie Colon gave a TEDx talk in which she claimed he physically assaulted her without naming him.

Colon spoke of once locking herself in her car, fearing that “he would push me back to the floor or make me hover in our upstairs bathroom like before.”

Price told Bloomberg that his account of the incidents “never happened.”

References:

$70,000 CEO Dan Price quits company over choking allegations

Boss who famously slashed own pay so workers earn $70k steps down over assault charges