Re:Fixing the Inequity of Startup Equity
by JonFish85 on Monday February 29, 2016 @05:59PM
(#11199409)
I believe most companies whose stock is publicly traded provide this for their employees. If you have stock in, say, Google, when your stock vests, you can have it sold and take the difference directly--no loan needed. I've never done such a thing, so it's only hearsay on my part, but that's how I've understood it to be.
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It's called a cashless exercise. You exercise and sell the stock right away so you don't need to have the money to buy.
However the problem is most startups in this case are not liquid so you cannot sell your shares (with some exceptions). Google and other public companies give you direct shares via RSUs since they can sell part of your shares to cover the taxes.