The founder of a Seattle-based processing company who famously increased the pay for each of his employees to at least $70,000 a year is reportedly being sued by his brother.
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Dan Price, the Seattle tech leader who hit the headlines earlier this year for boosting his employees’ minimum annual salary to $70,000 and cutting his own to the same, is being sued by his brother and business partner, Lucas Price (See: Seattle CEO cuts own salary 90% to hike employee wages).
The brothers co-founded the merchant-services company Price & Price in 2004, but appear to have had a long-standing disagreement over how the company should be run. During the restructure, as said by the Times, Lucas Price agreed to a minority interest and a lesser role in the company, which led Dan Price to continue his role as CEO.
Reported by court documents, the discord over Dan Price’s salary and control of the company had reached a critical stage weeks prior to the announcement, with lawyers for Lucas Price having already drafted the complaint at the time. Dan Price became CEO in 2006.
“I know the decision to pay everyone a living wage is controversial”, said Dan Price during a phone interview.
Lucas Price is a shareholder in the business.
Dan Price, who was named Geekwire’s 2013 Young Entrepreneur of the Year and Entrepreneur magazine’s 2014 Entrepreneur of the Year, has denied the allegations lodged by his brother.
But Lucas Price claims in court documents that his brother excessively paid himself a $1million dollar salary in the years before the big announcement, an alleged violation of an agreement limiting his compensation. Lucas Price is now asking the court to order Gravity to repurchase his shares and provide complete accounting of its transactions, financial affairs and financial records. “With this lawsuit, our backs are up against the wall and we are dependent on those who believe in our idea”.
One filing says his brother “failed to perform his duty as a member of the Board of Directors to raise any concerns regarding executive compensation and reasonable expectations regarding allocation of benefits of ownership in Gravity Payments”. “I deeply regret the rift this has caused in my relationship with my brother, who I love”, he said.
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A trial is set for May 3.
