Comment by SilverElfin
19 hours ago
When the options expire do they give new equivalent ones to the employees that hung on? Otherwise what’s the point?
19 hours ago
When the options expire do they give new equivalent ones to the employees that hung on? Otherwise what’s the point?
You have to exercise the options or let them expire. You normally have 10 years not 7, but if a company comes up on 10 years after they issued their first options, they might try a tender offer to buy some employee shares. If your 10 year old "start up" shares can't be sold anywhere, then they probably aren't worth exercising. A company that can't provide liquidity to employees for 10 years will probably never do it.
You can exercise the options before that time is up, paying the strike price to convert them to shares
But then you’re potentially stuck with worthless options you can never trade, right? Seems very unfriendly to employees
> Seems very unfriendly to employees
Ding ding ding ding ding!
Most ICs figure this out sooner or later. Unfortunately many only discover it after being screwed hard financially.