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Dan Price is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Gravity Payments, a Seattle, Washington, based credit card processing company. He and the company received media attention in 2015 when he announced that all employees would receive a minimum wage of $70,000.

Early life
Price was born in Michigan in May 1984 as one of six children. He attended Seattle Pacific University and graduated in 2008 with a degree in music and business.

Gravity Payments
Price co-founded Gravity Payments in January 2004 out of his dorm room with his older brother. The company is headquartered in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, and employs over 100 people. It is the largest credit card processor in Washington as of 2008.

Price first received national attention when he received the U.S. Small Business Administration’s National Young Entrepreneur Award in 2010.

Price and Gravity Payments received widespread media attention in 2013 and in 2015 for their pay practices. In 2013, Price increased pay for all employees earning less than $100,000 by 2% as a response to the lapse of the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012.

In April 2015, Price announced that over the next three years, the company would raise the pay of all employees to at least $70,000 per year, stating this was the minimum needed to secure them from financial hardship when hit by unexpected expenses. Price, who previously paid himself a $1.1 million salary, cut his own salary to $70,000 to partially cover the increased pay for employees. He was interviewed by the New York Times, Forbes, CNBC, Business Week, and Inc., and appeared on multiple news broadcasts to discuss his decision.

Reactions to the announcement were varied, even among the staff at the company. While much of the news was positive, some argued that the pay increase was a PR move meant to distract from Dan Price’s upcoming legal battles with his brother, a lawsuit that was later decided in Dan Price’s favor.

Awards
2008 – Puget Sound Business Journal 40-under-40

2010 – Small Business Administration's National Young Entrepreneur

2011 – Seattle Pacific University's Young Alumnus of the Year

2013 – GeekWire Young Entrepreneur of the Year

2014 – Entrepreneur Magazine Entrepreneur of the Year

2014 – Seattle Business Magazine Executive Excellence Award