Sara Blakely, the CEO and founder of Spanx, surprised her employees with a very generous gift last week.
In celebration of the company being acquired by global investment firm Blackstone, Blakely gave her employees two Delta first-class tickets to anywhere in the world, along with $10,000.
Blakely took to Instagram last Thursday to share a video of herself announcing the surprise.
“Behind the scenes @spanx telling the employees (some live and some on zoom) about the sale and partnership with Blackstone,” she wrote. “It was an emotional announcement filled with happy tears acknowledging how far we’ve come. And then the tears really started to flow when I surprised everybody with 2 first class @delta plane tickets to anywhere in the world and $10,000 cash to spend on the trip.”
Blakely added, “I really want every employee to celebrate this moment in their own way and create a memory that will last them a lifetime! Cheers to 21 years of magic and many more to come.”
The 50-year-old CEO started the company in 2000 with $5,000 of her savings. Twenty-one years later, Spanx has 750 employees, and is now valued at $1.2 billion.
“This is a really important moment in time for female entrepreneurs,” Blakely said in a news release. “I started this company with no business experience and very little money, but I cared the most about the customer, and that gave me the courage to launch the company.”
