Uber, Lyft, Pinterest, And Zoom: SEC Filings Reveal Trends In Private Company Stock Grant Design

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When you work for a startup or fast-growing private company that intends to go public or get acquired, you often take the job with the expectation that you’ll receive sizeable stock grants. But how do they work?

and file it within 30 days of exercise with your local IRS office, whether you are exercising nonqualified stock options or incentive stock options .Larger, later-stage pre-IPO companies often grant RSUs instead of stock options, including concerns about dilution and about high valuations which could lead new option grants at that exercise price to go underwater. This shift from stock options to RSUs is found in Uber’s registration statement. See the tables below from page F-56 of its Form S-1.

The standard tax treatment of RSUs triggers taxes at vesting. However, because a private company's stock is illiquid, employees at private companies cannot sell shares to pay those taxes. In this situation, some private companies with enough cash may either lend employees money for the taxes or provide a cash bonus that covers them .

Employees are also then bumped up into the top tax brackets for all their other income, whether salary or capital gains, because of this income hit from the IPO timing that they cannot control. Lyft reveals a 42% withholding rate while Pinterest used 48% . Should your grant fully vest in an IPO, welcome to the top income-tax bracket .Most companies automatically withhold shares from the grant to pay the taxes owed, sometimes referred to as net settlement.

Companies often disclose that funding withholding taxes is one of the uses for IPO proceeds. This could affect a company’s financial condition or add to dilution, according to risk factors disclosed by companies, as in Uber’s SEC filing . Alternatively, companies can allow for stock sales for taxes by employees as an exception to the lockup, as Uber discloses on page 266.

 

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Consult an Equity Compensation specialist when evaluating restricted stock grants...

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