Founders’ Equity: Repurchase of Unvested Stock by a Company

I spend a lot of time talking to founders of Silicon Valley start-ups about the stock they will receive in exchange for their contributions to their new company, and then preparing restricted stock purchase agreements for the founders. In the last couple of blogs, I have discussed the issues surrounding how founders’ stock could vest.

The concept of vesting is usually intertwined with the concept of repurchase rights. Simply put, for founders’ stock, vesting is where the repurchase rights held by the company disappear or change. In a typical scenario, when a triggering event occurs, a company can repurchase unvested stock for its original purchase price. A company may not, however, repurchase any vested stock or may only repurchase vested stock at the stock’s then fair market value.

What kind of triggering events might allow a company to purchase unvested stock? One common trigger is anything that results in the shareholder not working for the company. Most often, this means a termination of employment.

Termination occurs for a number of reasons. As a result, the number of shares the company can repurchase often changes depending on the reason for the termination. Put another way, vesting can accelerate as a result of certain events occurring. There is no law that dictates how vesting can change, if at all, on the occurrence of a particular triggering event. Founding groups design a variety of triggering events and repurchase rights to meet their goals.

Sometimes it is the company’s decision, rather than the shareholder’s decision, to end employment. Termination can occur for no particular reason, i.e., at-will, or where the company changes the employment relationship to such an extent that the shareholder terminates its employment, i.e., a termination for good reason. Where a termination occurs other than as a result of the shareholder’s decision, it is not unusual for some of the vesting to accelerate. In these cases, the shareholder may receive an extra year of vesting. In cases where a shareholder decides to leave on his or her own, or the shareholder is fired for cause, no vesting acceleration will occur.

Stock purchase agreements will often describe what it means for an employee to be fired for cause, or for an employee to be allowed to leave for good reason. The more objective the description of cause or good reason, the less opportunity there will be for a dispute if a triggering event does occur.

Another common triggering event is an acquisition of the company. In this case, vesting may accelerate to such an extent that all of the shareholder’s shares will be vested. Having shares of a founder, who may be critical to the success of a company, completely vest may scare off potential buyers who may want the founder to remain after the acquisition closes. For this reason, a double trigger is often used. In a double trigger, a shareholder’s shares will vest if the company is acquired AND the acquirer later terminates the shareholder’s employment for no reason. Before a newly formed company issues stock to its founders, it may wish to consult with a corporate or business attorney to be sure to take all of these considerations into account and make sure the founders discuss whether their shares should be issued subject to restrictions and, if so, how those restrictions should be structured.

Before I leave our discussion of vesting, there is one last critical point to mention. Purchasing stock that is subject to vesting can raise important tax consequences. If you receive any stock that must vest, it is critical that you consult your tax advisor BEFORE you sign any agreement purchasing unvested stock.

The information appearing in this article does not constitute legal advice or opinion. Such advice and opinion are provided by the firm only upon engagement with respect to specific factual situations. Specific questions relating to this article should be addressed directly to the author.