From The Liquidation Preference Effect. Your Equity Could Be Worth Millions — Or Nothing
In 2014, mobile security startup Good Technology was valued at $1.1 billion. Employees thought their equity packages were winning lottery tickets. They were wrong.
One year later, Good sold for $425 million. Employee share prices tumbled from $4.32 a share to $0.44. While executives made millions, employees — some of whom paid $100,000+ in taxes on their equity — made next to nothing.
Good Technology’s situation isn’t uncommon.