Sara Blakely, CEO and founder of the US underwear company Spanx, announced that she would give all her employees two first-class airline tickets to anywhere in the world and $10,000 to celebrate a $1.2-billion agreement with an investment company.
In a video posted on Instagram, Blakely gave an emotional speech to mark her company’s stock billionaire-sale to private investment management firm Blackstone.
“Why am I spinning a globe?” she asked on the video and, after a few minutes of silence, revealed the reason: she had bought two first-class tickets to any destination for all her employees.
Soon after, she announced the second gift, saying: “You know, if you have 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,” she added.
Through tears and cheers, employees revealed how they would use their presents.
When asked about how they would use the tickets and money, one employee replied that he would have a honeymoon in Bora Bora, and another said he planned to visit a safari in South Africa.
Spanx has not responded to a media request to confirm how many people work at the company. However, it is estimated to have around 500 employees.
Blakely, who sold fax machines door to door to earn money and pay for her health insurance before becoming the youngest self-made billionaire, also recalled her hard work to meet her goals.
“I said this company will one day be worth $20 million, and everybody laughed at me,” said a touched and tearful Blakely.
Also, Spanx’s CEO took a few minutes to toast all the women who preceded her and dedicated some emotional words to “all the women in the world who have not had this opportunity.”
“In a moment like this, I think of my mom and my grandmothers and their lack of options and all the women that came before them. This would have only been a very remote dream,” she said.
