Steve Sarowitz
Steve Sarowitz is an American billionaire businessman, and the founder of Paylocity.
Early life
Sarowitz earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.Career
Sarowitz owned 44% of Paylocity at its IPO in March 2014, and 28% in April 2019.Sarowitz has donated hundreds of millions of dollars to charity and plans to donate most of his wealth in the next decade.
''It Ends with Us'' controversy
On December 31, 2024, Blake Lively filed a lawsuit against Sarowitz, Justin Baldoni, and others based on allegations regarding sexual harassment and retaliation related to the 2024 film It Ends with Us.Lively filed an amended complaint on February 19, 2025 which included a statement by Sarowitz that: "I will protect the studio like Israel protected itself from Hamas. There were 39,000 dead bodies. There will be two dead bodies when I’m done. Minimum"
On January 16, 2025, Sarowitz, along with Baldoni and other associates, filed a $400 million defamation lawsuit against Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds, and her publicist. They alleged that Lively's claims were false and amounted to civil extortion.
On January 20, 2025, Sarowitz, along with Baldoni and other associates filed a $250 million libel lawsuit against The [New York Times], alleging that a Times article about the dispute defamed them by misrepresenting communications and spreading a “categorically false” narrative.
Sarowitz's lawsuits against Lively, Reynolds and The New York Times were dismissed in June 2025. Lively's case against Sarowitz, Baldoni, and others is scheduled to be heard starting on March 9, 2026.