Who knows what forces were at play here during the first day of the Uber IPO, but this bump in the middle sure looks like someone was trying to get the Uber stock out of the rut – perhaps the investment banks exercising the greenshoe option? Cue the usual pictures of two big hairy animals fighting each other.
Bloomberg reports that out of 207 million shares allocated for the IPO total, 27 million were reserved for greenshoe. I wonder how much of that was spent in the first day.
A couple of years back, Sam Altman wrote (paraphrase) that the 90-day stock option exercise window is complete bullshit which adds to the nonsensical ways startup employees get screwed over – as if building a successful company wasn’t hard enough.
I’m really glad to see the sentiment is getting heard, and yes, the startup employers need to be seriously reminded of this – here on the webs, as well as during the employment and especially the offer negotiation. And companies that adopt sane options policies need to be praised. Zach Holman started a list of these employee-friendly outfits that I sure hope will grow over time. As of today, it is:
P.S. Bonus points – when stock options suck and there is no way around that, here is a classic little post (not from me) on how to stop worrying and in 5 minutes maximize the deal you get for years to come.
Fancy Mollusk 