Father addresses allegations against Nampa-native CEO
Ron Price, the father of Gravity Payments CEO Dan Price, denied allegations of deception and domestic abuse by his son that were published this week by “Bloomberg Businessweek.”
Dan Price made headlines in April when he raised the minimum pay at his Seattle company to $70,000 a year and slashed his own $1.1 million salary to that amount. The Bloomberg story, published Tuesday, Dec. 1, said Price’s ex-wife, Kristie Colón, recorded a TEDx Talk in Kentucky describing domestic abuse when they were married.
Ron Price, a Nampa business consultant, told the Statesman on Friday that the allegations came as a “complete shock to us” and that there is no documentation or arrest report to support the claim.
“We don’t have any evidence that ever occurred,” Price said.
Dan Price denied the allegations in interviews with Bloomberg and Inc. Magazine, but did not respond to a request for comment from the Statesman left at Gravity Payments, Price’s credit-card payment-processing business.
Bloomberg also reported that Dan Price made his wage decision after he received advance notice of a lawsuit filed by his brother, Lucas Price, a minority shareholder in Gravity Payments. Previously, Dan Price had said the lawsuit was a response to his decision.
“The timing about that is much more complicated than the Bloomberg article pointed out,” Ron Price said.
It’s been particularly hard on their siblings.”
Ron Price
“Dan has been very truthful in the way he described it,” Ron Price said. “His contemplation and decision about raising the minimum pay preceded the lawsuit.”
Ron Price said he and his wife are trying to remain neutral as the lawsuit plays out in court. His six children, who have scattered from the family’s Nampa home to cities around the country, are not planning to gather for Christmas, he said.
“The siblings think, ‘Why can’t you two love each other enough to work it out without being in a big, messy conflict that the whole world sees?’ Ron Price said. “I guess I’m a little more stoic about it. Even though I wouldn’t want it to play out like this, I realize life is messy.”
Zach Kyle: 208-377-6464 , @IDS_ZachKyle
This story was originally published December 4, 2015 at 3:12 PM with the headline "Father addresses allegations against Nampa-native CEO."