How do employee stock options work in this case?

Question

Hello,

If there is a company that has a share price of $2, and another company that has a share price of $100, should I ask for more options at the $2 company? Does it matter? My reasoning is.. If the $2 stock goes to $3, the value of the company went up 50%. This is the equivalent of the $100 stock going to $150. Correct??And if I owned, say 10,000 shares, wouldn't I want to have options on the $100 stock and not the $2 stock?

Thanks a lot for any thoughts.

Answer 1

Having options on the higher priced stock is more desireable, if you're talking about the same number of shares.

The ten thousand shares of $2 stock will net you ten thousand dollars in this scenario if you exercise all of your options in a same day buy/sell. (You buy 10,000 shares for $20,000, and sell them for $30,000)

The ten thousand shares of $100 stock in this scenario will net you five hundred thousand dollars if you exercise all of your options in a same day buy/sell. (You buy 10,000 shares for $1,000,000 and sell them for $1,500,000)

Answer 2

it has alot to do with your initial buy-in, if any. if you have say, $1000 to spend right now, without a sales fee, you'd get either 10 shares of that $100 or you'd get 500 shares of that $2.

if that $100 stock goes up slightly, you see a very small gain (ie, +.010 = $1.00 total)

however, with that lower $2 stock, a small gain can mean a bigger profit (ie +0.10 = $50.00 total)

see what i'm getting at? but here are the risks. at $100/share, its pretty well assured that the company is well established, and probably isn't going to flounder anytime soon. however, at $2/share, they are still getting out there, so if they do gain in popularity, and the prices go up, those who spent money now gain lots. but.. if you spent alot on them and they go under, so does your money.

its a $2/share high risk for a high gain.

or a $100/share low risk for a low gain (but still a gain, and dividens over time etc etc)

welcome to the game of investing! its a fun ride ahead

Answer 3

Neither of those prior posters has a clue. Employee inventory choices are in most cases dilutive in that exercise the choices factors extra stocks to be createdc hence diluting the possession of alternative stockholders. That's one purpose that stockholders don't peculiarly like ESOP's.