Dan Price, the CEO known for championing progressive causes before resigning amid assault allegations, is back at Seattle-based Gravity Payments.
Price on Tuesday posted on LinkedIn he is back full-time at the payments company he founded in 2004. He resigned in 2022 after a woman accused him of cornering her in his car after a meeting on Capitol Hill, forcibly trying to kiss her, driving her while drunk and grabbing her neck.
"I'm in a new role advising and assisting the CEO on strategy. It's been great to be back," Price wrote on LinkedIn, adding a thumbs-up emoji at the end.
Gravity Payments didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on the move. The Seattle Municipal Court in April of last year threw out the charges of fourth-degree assault and reckless driving, citing lack of proof. Fourth-degree assault with sexual motivation charges had been dropped in May 2022.
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Price was a public champion through social media of progressive work culture and other causes. His fame rose in 2015 when he increased his company's minimum salary to $70,000 and lambasted high CEO pay. A 2022 report from The New York Times, however, detailed sexual assault and abuse allegations from multiple women, including his ex-wife, and recounted how Price would use social media to drown out negative press coverage.
His LinkedIn post announcing his return to Gravity has already received more than 2,290 reactions, including more than 1,900 likes. In a comment on his own post, Price noted the minimum salary at Gravity is now $80,000.
In 2015, Price's brother Lucas Price, a minority shareholder, sued Dan Price, accusing the CEO of overpaying himself. A King County Superior Court judge in 2016 ruled in favor of Dan Price.
Gravity offers credit card terminals and financing for merchants. Tammi Kroll now leads Gravity as CEO. She held multiple C-level positions at Gravity before taking over the CEO job in 2022 when Price resigned. She spent more than four years at Yahoo earlier in her career, according to her LinkedIn page.
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