The CEO of Spanx has gives all employees $10,000 (£7,200) and first-class plane tickets to destination of their choice after selling shares in the company for $1.2 billion.
Sara Blakley, 50, decided to treat each of her Spanx employees after securing a huge deal to sell the company.
The sale has resulted in a partnership with investment management company Blackstone, with Sara Blakley becoming the executive chairwoman of Spanx’s newly appointed all-female board of directors.
In an Instagram video that celebrates the deal Sara explains how when she initially began to think about starting up the company, her goal was for it to eventually be worth $20 million.
The caption reads: " Behind the scenes @spanx telling the employees (some live and some on zoom) about the sale and partnership with Blackstone.
"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.
"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."
She informed her staff of the news at a celebration part and said: "I said this company would one be worth $20 million and everybody laughed at me, and you know I said I really believe that.
"So to stand here today and think about what we've been able to create and what we've been able to do by being authentic and kind, and deliver amazing products to women, to be able to use very feminine principles in a very masculine space...this marks a moment for female entrepreneurs."
She goes on to: "toast the women before me, and all of the women in the world who have not had this opportunity."
Speaking to her employees, she says: "I have bought each one of you two first-class tickets to anywhere in the world."
"You know, if you go on a trip you might want to go out for a really nice dinner or 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."
This announcement is met with a huge round of applause and cheers from the crowd at the party, and some are seen to be crying.
One member of staff excitedly explains that she will be using the tickets and money to go on her honeymoon to Bora Bora, while another says he will be flying to Sweden to elope with his soon-to-be wife.
The billion-dollar deal come after the New York Times said Spanx was exploring options with Goldman Sachs such as a sale and drawn interest from private equity firms including Carlyle.
In the clip, Sara can be seen wearing an old red rucksack, which she says is a symbol of the hard-work she had put in when trying to launch her company.
On her LinkedIn profile, she shares how she set up SPANX in 2000 with $5,000 in personal savings.
In 2006, she launched the SPANX Foundation to empower women through education, entrepreneurship and the arts.
She writes: "I believe the world will be a better place when the feminine and masculine energy on the planet are more in balance."
