Without knowing more about the company’s organization, there are two basic options. The owner can treat it as W-2 taxable income (salary-equivalent) to the employee, and can expense it as salary to the business ... and check that Social Security etc. withholding carefully!
Or, if the company is an old-fashioned proprietorship, he could treat it as a personal gift, within the limits ($13,000?) and not expense it to the company. If the owner is, legally, the company, then the use of the credit card in the company’s name is irrelevant, as long as the bill is paid according to the issuer contract.
It would have been interesting if he’d had a relationship wtih a charitable organization or church and could have put the payments through that as a deductible charitable contribution ...
He could also loan the money to the employee.