Joel Embiid Donates $500K to Team Employees as Billionaire Team Owners Ask People to Take a 20 Percent Pay Cut

The Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils, both owned by Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, are asking employees to take a voluntary 20 percent pay cut. This is why you don't need to worry about the feelings of billionaires - they have none. In the face of a global crisis, billionaires expect millionaires and those with even less to make the sacrifices while their money-making machines do nothing but pause.

The Sixers current ownership group, led by Joshua Harris and David Blitzer, purchased the 76ers in 2011 for $287 million. The team is currently worth around $2 billion. The Devils are worth a paltry $550 million, which is still up a bit from the $320 million Harris and Blitzer paid for them.

According to Forbes, Harris is currently worth about $3.9 billion. According to a story about the pair trying to sell Crystal Palace a year ago, Blitzer is worth about $1.3 billion. In 2017, Harris purchased a six-story, 21,000 square foot townhouse in New York City for $45 million. It is unclear if that is the home he'll be riding out apocalypse in.

Meanwhile, Sixers' star Joel Embiid will help make up for his bosses' decision.

More importantly, Embiid has been doing what the rest of us are supposed to be doing - staying home. And he's been using his time to educate himself so that he can help. Now he's done that by pledging money to help his co-workers get through this. If Embiid pledged half a million dollars and he makes about $30 million a year, what do you think the equivalent contribution from a billionaire would be? Probably less than paying all the Sixers and Devils employees their full salaries for the next few months.

UPDATE: A swift reversal has taken place.