Selling Company Stock
I am an employee who has been granted common stock (note: actual stock, not just options) in the privately held company I work for. To my knowledge, the stock is not traded anywhere and it does not disclose financials.
I was wondering: Is it possible to sell shares on sites like SecondMarket or SharesPost? If so, how would one go about doing that? Could I only sell to accredited investors? Would I have to be an accredited investor to sell it?
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You might want to check the shareholder agreement you signed. Most likely it says you cannot sell your shares without the company approval. – Filippo Diotalevi 13 years ago
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They have right of first refusal, but that's it. – Stock Owner 13 years ago
3 Answers
Make sure you have all of the documents that govern the issuance of shares. If you have restricted shares, you will need to get the legend removed via an opinion letter typically. Then a transfer agent can handle the transction for you.
You need to find a buyer and then offer the same deal to the company per your agreement and if you are sure that there are no other barriers to a disposition of the shares (the company will let you know when you present them with a right of first refusal normally) then you can transfer ownership.
You may have a tax consequence due to the disposition. This issue could be the most important issue for you to understand prior to making any decisions.
Good luck!
If that's the case then you should find some other suitors who would potentially want to buy the stock. With that, you can go back to your partners and tell them you have an offer and they need to either match/beat the offer (according to the contract) or let it happen. Without this offer, they have no incentive to help you sell out.
You need to look at the stock agreement for the company. Typically, in the US, the stock is restricted which means you cannot sell it unless the company stock gets registered or the board of directors votes to allow you sell the shares to another investor.
