CHICAGO (NewsNation Now) — Spanx founder Sara Blakely gifted each employee with a pair of round-trip tickets to anywhere in the world and a $10,000 bonus in celebration of the billion-dollar valuation of the company.
Blakely sold a majority stake in Spanx to Blackstone last week. The deal valued the shape-wear company at $1.2 billion.
“To celebrate this moment, I have bought each one of you two first-class tickets to anywhere in the world,” Blakely announced to a room full of her staff on Friday.
A now-viral clip of Blakely’s announcement shows Spanx employees crying, screaming and embracing one another in excitement over the CEO’s gesture.
“And you know if you go on a trip, you might want to go out to a really nice dinner or you might want to go out to a really nice hotel,” Blakely added. “So, with everybody’s two first-class tickets to anywhere in the world, you are each getting $10,000 to spend on your trip.”
Blakely got emotional when making the announcement to employees, reminiscing on when she first started the company. “I said this company will one day be worth $20 million and everybody laughed at me. And I said, ‘I really believe that.'”
Spanx has approximately 750 employees. The company’s headquarters are in Atlanta.
