Columbia Sportswear CEO takes pay cut to help support employees during coronavirus crisis

(CNN)Tim Boyle, president and CEO of Columbia Sportswear Company, is cutting his salary to keep his employees paid during the coronavirus crisis. Boyle reduced his salary to $10,000, Mary Ellen Glynn, Columbia's director of corporate communications, said in a statement. Boyle made $3. 3 million in 2018, according to The Oregonian.

His decision to take a paycut comes after Columbia Sportswear, like many stores across North America, closed its doors on March 16 following coronavirus restrictions. The company's roughly 3,500 retail employees were at risk of losing their jobs or not getting paid. Now, employees will continue receiving their regular paychecks, Glynn said. "Columbia Sportswear has been in business for 81 years.

It may be a publicly traded company, but it's mostly owned by the Boyle family," Glynn said. "They've had crises before and they've weathered through it by standing together. That's the culture of the company. " At least 10 of the company's top executives voluntarily took a 15% pay reduction to help, Glynn said.

Boyle joins a growing list of company executives that have taken pay cuts to keep their employees afloat as they try to handle the economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic. Airline companies, including Delta, Alaska, and United Airlines, were among the first to take such steps, as they were one of the industries hit hardest by the outbreak early on. Other companies, including Marriott, Dick's Sporting Goods, Ford, GE and Lyft have also taken similar measures.