7 ms·

T-Mobile is giving postpaid customers a free share of stock

60 points by coloneltcb 10y ago

SparkyMcUnicorn 10y ago
"Those who recommend T-Mobile can get more stock. For every friend who opens an account, customers get another share (up to 100 shares a year.)" So T-Mobile shares are currently going for $43~. I could earn over $4k each year from referrals? Edit: looks like you need to know the persons name and number of who you are referring. No Adwords campaign after all. http://i.imgur.com/m3QfIpr.png http://i.imgur.com/m3QfIpr.png
- Analemma_ 10y ago
  You could, but you won't. Referrals are a great way to lose friends in a hurry, especially with something like cellphone plans where everyone already has one and so the only way to get the referral bonus is to convince someone to switch from their existing plan, (as opposed to brand-new services where they just have to sign if up they find it useful). Ever unfriended a bunch of people on Facebook because they wouldn't stop pestering you to help them out in some stupid game, or about this great nutritional supplement program they wanted you to try? This is kinda neat, and if any friends of mine express independently express interest in switching to T-Mobile, I suppose I'll bring this up and make a little cash (I'm a current customer), but don't think this is going to be a huge deal. I'm sure T-Mobile knows this, and are counting on the nice PR of this announcement as much as its actual effectiveness in signing up new subscribers.
  - snuxoll 10y ago
    People switch carriers all the time these days, very few people are loyal to their cell phone company as they all have their flaws (for as much as I love T-Mo, once I leave a metropolitan area I have shit for service, but without phone payments I pay $180/mo for 7 lines including insurance on most of them). I don't pester my friends with referrals, but if someone expresses dissatisfaction with their current carrier I am almost always one of the first to give them advice on A) what to do to resolve the issue (if possible) with their carrier, and B) alternatives that may work just as well for them. Personally, 3 years ago I switched my whole family from AT&T to T-Mobile because of AT&T's constant price gouging and the extra $100/yr they wanted to collect in additional "Administrative Fees" that they added to my account and claimed it wasn't a materially adverse change to the contract. I'm not paying less than I was with AT&T because I usually buy new phones every time I pay one off (with some exceptions), but I'm much happier with a company that doesn't gouge me, is more transparent (they've raised rates on unlimited data, but they didn't beat around the bush about why they did it), and with better customer service (I have a T-Mobile @Work account, to be fair, so I get better service than normal personal accounts).
  - post_break 10y ago
    I un-friended like 20 people back in the day for some burger king on facebook.
    - koolba 10y ago
      > I un-friended like 20 people back in the day for some burger king on facebook. What do you mean? Did you unfriend 20 people in exchange for Burger King giving you a burger? Or, did you unfriend 20 people because they were trying to get you to go buy a burger?
      - post_break 10y ago
        The first one. http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives/2009/01/unfriend-10-people-on-facebook-get-a-free-whopper-burger-king.html http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives/2009/01/unfriend-10-peop...
        koolba 10y ago
        Haha. That's awesome.
      - deleted 10y ago
        [deleted]
  - SparkyMcUnicorn 10y ago
    I was thinking along the lines of paying for an adwords campaign, similar to how people max out their dropbox referrals.
    - jonknee 10y ago
      T-Mobile spends much more than $43 to acquire a customer, if you could figure out how to do it with AdWords you shouldn't be doing it for a share of stock at a time.
      - deleted 10y ago
        [deleted]
  - noer 10y ago
    >Referrals are a great way to lose friends in a hurry It depends on how you do it. Some referral (and affiliate) programs explicitly forbid you from advertising your referral code or affiliate link (Uber is an example, they'll shut your account down if they find you advertising your referral code on the internet). Others allow to advertise on AdWords/Facebook/Whatever, the problem is that many people don't have the ability to quickly calculate a cost/referral to make advertising work. You could gamble on spending and assume someone uses your link, but you might end up wasting your spend.
    - astrange 10y ago
      I see people spamming their Uber referral codes all the time on Facebook. Usually comes as a post saying "Uber is offering free rides for this event, here's a first-time coupon code!" with their own referral... Lately I've been seeing people actually handing out Lyft business cards with codes outside conventions, was wondering if those were actual employees or just really motivated referrers.
- heimatau 10y ago
  Also, if you have been a customer with Tmo for less than 5 years you can only get 80 shares (limited to 20 shares/refs per 3 months). And if you've been with them longer than 5 years, then you'd only need 50 refers to get 100 shares, since they double it[1]. [1] my reading of the fine print.
CoachRufus87 10y ago
I think most customers would prefer better cell coverage.
- vthallam 10y ago
  Definitely! I'm quite happy with my T-Mobile account except when i go away from the city. Increasing coverage with the current tariff is more than enough to get more users.
  - SparkyMcUnicorn 10y ago
    Their new LTE band 2 and 12 networks are great! Only issue is you need a phone that has band 2 and 12, which is mostly all newer phones.
- uep 10y ago
  T-Mobile's coverage has gotten significantly better in the last couple years since they bought 700Mhz spectrum from Verizon. Before this, T-Mobile had no low-frequency spectrum. Low-frequency spectrum has much better range. According to wired: "T-Mobile customers saw an LTE signal 81 percent of the the time in the fourth quarter of last year, just a bit less than what AT&T delivered. Yes, both still lag behind Verizon (87 percent), but it’s a level of saturation that lets them claim nationwide reliability." http://www.wired.com/2016/02/t-mobiles-finally-good-enough-to-put-pressure-on-verizon/ http://www.wired.com/2016/02/t-mobiles-finally-good-enough-t... They're within striking distance these days.
  - technofiend 10y ago
    >T-Mobile's coverage has gotten significantly better... Can't argue that in the main that's true, unfortunately due to construction where I am downtown my T-Mobile service has dropped off considerably and it's useless where I spend my weekends. They've also shifted customer policy recently and don't try as hard to retain customers - in my case refusing to refund a couple of months of excess billing that was their fault. Previous mistakes were corrected with apologies that bordered on the obsequious. Needless to say I won't be a TMO customer much longer. But I'll take a free share of stock on the way out.
froh42 10y ago
This is so strange. "un-carrier". T-Mobile is a brand of the Deutsche Telekom, the former monopoly and state-owned carrier in Germany. It can't get more "old inflexible heavy carrier"-y than that. Bandwidth caps. Trying to push Netflix and Google Video out of the network for promoting their on in-house service (net neutrality? Telekom hates it.) They have problems on the American market, lost a lot of money there, so they try hard to create a "different" image.
- toomuchtodo 10y ago
  T-Mobile USA operates independently of Deutsche Telekom, hence it's "Uncarrier" principles.
- janpieterz 10y ago
  I was very surprised about a month ago about how incredible customer focused their policies are regarding to travel to a foreign country. Went to US with Vodafone and ramped up 1200€ data costs, sorry, podcast that automatically downloaded. T-mobile on the other hand limits this automatically and only allows you access after specifically requesting it in text messages. That and one of the highest data bundles (12GB) in the Netherlands, 300 minutes of EU calling etc for ~28€ makes for an incredible good experience. For me, their different image has succeeded.
- maxsilver 10y ago
  T-Mobile US operates independently of Deutsche Telekom, almost like a totally different company that happens to have the same brand name. Being mostly independent, TMUS have actually dropped a lot of the "heavy carrier" aspects. For instance: > Bandwidth caps. Trying to push Netflix and Google Video out of the network for promoting their on in-house service T-Mobile US actually gives you "free" low-quality Netflix and YouTube video streaming, without counting that against a subscribers data limit. http://www.t-mobile.com/offer/binge-on-streaming-video.html http://www.t-mobile.com/offer/binge-on-streaming-video.html --- T-Mobile US isn't the only example of this. "Virgin Mobile USA" is just a brand name slapped on prepaid Sprint phones. Besides licensing the brand, there has been no affiliation between Virgin Group UK and Sprint "Virgin Mobile USA" for many years now.
CoolGuySteve 10y ago
There was an article in Business Adventures about someone selling their stock through the newspaper to prevent another buyer from cornering the market. Could this be a similar measure to defend against a majority voter controlling the company?
- snuxoll 10y ago
  > Could this be a similar measure to defend against a majority voter controlling the company? An interesting theory, it would depend on whether said stock has any voting rights or not. Just because I have a share in a company doesn't mean I have any say, that all depends on the class of stock I have. Of course, TMUS has been under constant pressure from their majority owner (DT) and there's been constant rumors of sale (though DT seems to be happy with TMUS at this point, and said rumors have died down) - so I wouldn't be surprised if this was hedging a bet against DT (though I couldn't say how effective this could be).
slg 10y ago
I wonder what percentage of these shares get claimed and then what percentage of those shares aren't eventually abandoned in whatever the default account in which they are issued once people realize it is kind of a hassle to own a single share worth this relatively little. I personally would have rather had a $25 bill credit than $40 something worth of stock that will take time and money to actually turn into cash.
- dimino 10y ago
  I can sell the share if I own it, right? So it's like $43 bucks for free.
  - TheBiv 10y ago
    Yes you can sell the share if you own it, but you won't be getting $43 for free. Assume you get 1 share of T-mobile stock currently valued at $43.11 and you want to sell the stock. Since you did not hold this stock for more than 1 year, you will be taxed at regular income so if we assume a 30% tax, then you will be left with $30.18. [1] As the nandhp points out below, T-Mobile is issuing these shares exclusively through LOYAL3 and selling your share within 1 year will be fee-free.
    - nandhp 10y ago
      According to T-Mobile there's no fees (for the first year): > It costs nothing to get your shares or set up an account with T-Mobile’s brokerage partner, LOYAL3, and there are absolutely no fees to get or sell your share this year – and no fee to maintain your account as long as you’re an active customer. https://newsroom.t-mobile.com/news-and-blogs/un-carrier-11.htm https://newsroom.t-mobile.com/news-and-blogs/un-carrier-11.h... There's more details in the prospectus: > No charge for sales of Shares within 12 months after receipt. Beginning 12 months after you receive your last Stock Up Reward, LOYAL3 may impose a sales charge of up to $5.00 per transaction https://d1mfhr91ibccjl.cloudfront.net/docs/statler/prospectus.pdf https://d1mfhr91ibccjl.cloudfront.net/docs/statler/prospectu... Taxes, of course, are inescapable.
nikolay 10y ago
Stupid! Now it's tough to keep cusotomers, not acquire new ones! Edit: All you downvoting me - I've been a T-Mobile customer since there's T-Mobile in California, i.e. way more than a decade, but many of my friends are switching away as all this time, they've had the worst coverage, and don't care to improve it! They even decline CellSpot for lousy reasons!
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
fapjacks 10y ago
T-Mobile is one giant running scam. Nothing is what it sounds like with them.
rmason 10y ago
I had never heard the term postpaid. If I'm prepaying my bill why isn't that more worthy of extras, after all they've got use of my cash? Why isn't this better than simply paying after I get the bill also known as postpaid?
- Splendor 10y ago
  "Postpaid" customers signed a service contract when they joined. Prepaid customers are month-to-month and usually less desirable.
  - ac29 10y ago
    Nope, postpaid customers just undergo a credit check before starting their plans [source: I am one]. I don't think it's even possible to not be month-to-month on T-mobile.
- mmanfrin 10y ago
  Postpaid plans can be pretty easily upsold on other non-minutes/non-data expendables (like upgrading a phone), which then further help to 'lock in' customers. Although I think most of all is just the history of how the phone industry has evolved its plans: postpaid is an evolution of contracts, so everyone sees it as a more consistent flow than prepaid (which has the legacy of burner phones/plans; that $40 this month does not guarantee $40 next month in the way that postpaid plans do).
- Thetawaves 10y ago
  Postpaid is the opposite of prepaid, and is simply a matter of the billing structure. It has implications on the nature of the relationship with the carrier. Postpaid contracts tend to offer a large variety of services and options. The bill is a direct result of the usage during that billing period, including fees/costs for excessive usage. Prepaid contracts tend to offer a minimal amount of services that are paid up-front. If customer usage exceeds what they paid for, the service is cut off. The carrier has no duty to provide service beyond what the contract states, and indeed the point is to remove that liability from the customer as well.
Animats 10y ago
This is Loyal3's thing - it's an affinity program that pays off in stock shares. Loyal3 also does small IPOs. This was supposed to be a service for startups, sort of the next step after Kickstarter. But nobody seems to be using it. Loyal3's IPO sales have been small pieces of big IPOs, such as GoPro and Square. The problem is getting enough attention that people buy stock in your unknown company.
justin66 10y ago
As with almost all awards of stock to normal human beings, I'm sure the recipients would prefer cash.
- mikestew 10y ago
  Sure, I'd prefer cash. Fill out a form, click a button, so easy anyone could do it! Which is why Tmo is giving you a share of stock instead. Put up just a little bit of a barrier, and you won't have to give the prize to everybody. (I'm still taking my share, though, even if there are a few hoops involved. Hell, I might even buy 99 more shares just to make it an even lot of 100.)

60 points by coloneltcb 10y ago

"Those who recommend T-Mobile can get more stock. For every friend who opens an account, customers get another share (up to 100 shares a year.)" So T-Mobile shares are currently going for $43~. I could earn over $4k each year from referrals? Edit: looks like you need to know the persons name and number of who you are referring. No Adwords campaign after all. http://i.imgur.com/m3QfIpr.png http://i.imgur.com/m3QfIpr.png

Analemma_ 10y ago
You could, but you won't. Referrals are a great way to lose friends in a hurry, especially with something like cellphone plans where everyone already has one and so the only way to get the referral bonus is to convince someone to switch from their existing plan, (as opposed to brand-new services where they just have to sign if up they find it useful). Ever unfriended a bunch of people on Facebook because they wouldn't stop pestering you to help them out in some stupid game, or about this great nutritional supplement program they wanted you to try? This is kinda neat, and if any friends of mine express independently express interest in switching to T-Mobile, I suppose I'll bring this up and make a little cash (I'm a current customer), but don't think this is going to be a huge deal. I'm sure T-Mobile knows this, and are counting on the nice PR of this announcement as much as its actual effectiveness in signing up new subscribers.
- snuxoll 10y ago
  People switch carriers all the time these days, very few people are loyal to their cell phone company as they all have their flaws (for as much as I love T-Mo, once I leave a metropolitan area I have shit for service, but without phone payments I pay $180/mo for 7 lines including insurance on most of them). I don't pester my friends with referrals, but if someone expresses dissatisfaction with their current carrier I am almost always one of the first to give them advice on A) what to do to resolve the issue (if possible) with their carrier, and B) alternatives that may work just as well for them. Personally, 3 years ago I switched my whole family from AT&T to T-Mobile because of AT&T's constant price gouging and the extra $100/yr they wanted to collect in additional "Administrative Fees" that they added to my account and claimed it wasn't a materially adverse change to the contract. I'm not paying less than I was with AT&T because I usually buy new phones every time I pay one off (with some exceptions), but I'm much happier with a company that doesn't gouge me, is more transparent (they've raised rates on unlimited data, but they didn't beat around the bush about why they did it), and with better customer service (I have a T-Mobile @Work account, to be fair, so I get better service than normal personal accounts).
- post_break 10y ago
  I un-friended like 20 people back in the day for some burger king on facebook.
  - koolba 10y ago
    > I un-friended like 20 people back in the day for some burger king on facebook. What do you mean? Did you unfriend 20 people in exchange for Burger King giving you a burger? Or, did you unfriend 20 people because they were trying to get you to go buy a burger?
    - post_break 10y ago
      The first one. http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives/2009/01/unfriend-10-people-on-facebook-get-a-free-whopper-burger-king.html http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives/2009/01/unfriend-10-peop...
      - koolba 10y ago
        Haha. That's awesome.
    - deleted 10y ago
      [deleted]
- SparkyMcUnicorn 10y ago
  I was thinking along the lines of paying for an adwords campaign, similar to how people max out their dropbox referrals.
  - jonknee 10y ago
    T-Mobile spends much more than $43 to acquire a customer, if you could figure out how to do it with AdWords you shouldn't be doing it for a share of stock at a time.
    - deleted 10y ago
      [deleted]
- noer 10y ago
  >Referrals are a great way to lose friends in a hurry It depends on how you do it. Some referral (and affiliate) programs explicitly forbid you from advertising your referral code or affiliate link (Uber is an example, they'll shut your account down if they find you advertising your referral code on the internet). Others allow to advertise on AdWords/Facebook/Whatever, the problem is that many people don't have the ability to quickly calculate a cost/referral to make advertising work. You could gamble on spending and assume someone uses your link, but you might end up wasting your spend.
  - astrange 10y ago
    I see people spamming their Uber referral codes all the time on Facebook. Usually comes as a post saying "Uber is offering free rides for this event, here's a first-time coupon code!" with their own referral... Lately I've been seeing people actually handing out Lyft business cards with codes outside conventions, was wondering if those were actual employees or just really motivated referrers.
heimatau 10y ago
Also, if you have been a customer with Tmo for less than 5 years you can only get 80 shares (limited to 20 shares/refs per 3 months). And if you've been with them longer than 5 years, then you'd only need 50 refers to get 100 shares, since they double it[1]. [1] my reading of the fine print.

CoachRufus87 10y ago

I think most customers would prefer better cell coverage.

vthallam 10y ago
Definitely! I'm quite happy with my T-Mobile account except when i go away from the city. Increasing coverage with the current tariff is more than enough to get more users.
- SparkyMcUnicorn 10y ago
  Their new LTE band 2 and 12 networks are great! Only issue is you need a phone that has band 2 and 12, which is mostly all newer phones.
uep 10y ago
T-Mobile's coverage has gotten significantly better in the last couple years since they bought 700Mhz spectrum from Verizon. Before this, T-Mobile had no low-frequency spectrum. Low-frequency spectrum has much better range. According to wired: "T-Mobile customers saw an LTE signal 81 percent of the the time in the fourth quarter of last year, just a bit less than what AT&T delivered. Yes, both still lag behind Verizon (87 percent), but it’s a level of saturation that lets them claim nationwide reliability." http://www.wired.com/2016/02/t-mobiles-finally-good-enough-to-put-pressure-on-verizon/ http://www.wired.com/2016/02/t-mobiles-finally-good-enough-t... They're within striking distance these days.
- technofiend 10y ago
  >T-Mobile's coverage has gotten significantly better... Can't argue that in the main that's true, unfortunately due to construction where I am downtown my T-Mobile service has dropped off considerably and it's useless where I spend my weekends. They've also shifted customer policy recently and don't try as hard to retain customers - in my case refusing to refund a couple of months of excess billing that was their fault. Previous mistakes were corrected with apologies that bordered on the obsequious. Needless to say I won't be a TMO customer much longer. But I'll take a free share of stock on the way out.

froh42 10y ago

This is so strange. "un-carrier". T-Mobile is a brand of the Deutsche Telekom, the former monopoly and state-owned carrier in Germany. It can't get more "old inflexible heavy carrier"-y than that. Bandwidth caps. Trying to push Netflix and Google Video out of the network for promoting their on in-house service (net neutrality? Telekom hates it.) They have problems on the American market, lost a lot of money there, so they try hard to create a "different" image.

toomuchtodo 10y ago
T-Mobile USA operates independently of Deutsche Telekom, hence it's "Uncarrier" principles.
janpieterz 10y ago
I was very surprised about a month ago about how incredible customer focused their policies are regarding to travel to a foreign country. Went to US with Vodafone and ramped up 1200€ data costs, sorry, podcast that automatically downloaded. T-mobile on the other hand limits this automatically and only allows you access after specifically requesting it in text messages. That and one of the highest data bundles (12GB) in the Netherlands, 300 minutes of EU calling etc for ~28€ makes for an incredible good experience. For me, their different image has succeeded.
maxsilver 10y ago
T-Mobile US operates independently of Deutsche Telekom, almost like a totally different company that happens to have the same brand name. Being mostly independent, TMUS have actually dropped a lot of the "heavy carrier" aspects. For instance: > Bandwidth caps. Trying to push Netflix and Google Video out of the network for promoting their on in-house service T-Mobile US actually gives you "free" low-quality Netflix and YouTube video streaming, without counting that against a subscribers data limit. http://www.t-mobile.com/offer/binge-on-streaming-video.html http://www.t-mobile.com/offer/binge-on-streaming-video.html --- T-Mobile US isn't the only example of this. "Virgin Mobile USA" is just a brand name slapped on prepaid Sprint phones. Besides licensing the brand, there has been no affiliation between Virgin Group UK and Sprint "Virgin Mobile USA" for many years now.

CoolGuySteve 10y ago

There was an article in Business Adventures about someone selling their stock through the newspaper to prevent another buyer from cornering the market. Could this be a similar measure to defend against a majority voter controlling the company?

snuxoll 10y ago
> Could this be a similar measure to defend against a majority voter controlling the company? An interesting theory, it would depend on whether said stock has any voting rights or not. Just because I have a share in a company doesn't mean I have any say, that all depends on the class of stock I have. Of course, TMUS has been under constant pressure from their majority owner (DT) and there's been constant rumors of sale (though DT seems to be happy with TMUS at this point, and said rumors have died down) - so I wouldn't be surprised if this was hedging a bet against DT (though I couldn't say how effective this could be).

slg 10y ago

I wonder what percentage of these shares get claimed and then what percentage of those shares aren't eventually abandoned in whatever the default account in which they are issued once people realize it is kind of a hassle to own a single share worth this relatively little. I personally would have rather had a $25 bill credit than $40 something worth of stock that will take time and money to actually turn into cash.

dimino 10y ago
I can sell the share if I own it, right? So it's like $43 bucks for free.
- TheBiv 10y ago
  Yes you can sell the share if you own it, but you won't be getting $43 for free. Assume you get 1 share of T-mobile stock currently valued at $43.11 and you want to sell the stock. Since you did not hold this stock for more than 1 year, you will be taxed at regular income so if we assume a 30% tax, then you will be left with $30.18. [1] As the nandhp points out below, T-Mobile is issuing these shares exclusively through LOYAL3 and selling your share within 1 year will be fee-free.
  - nandhp 10y ago
    According to T-Mobile there's no fees (for the first year): > It costs nothing to get your shares or set up an account with T-Mobile’s brokerage partner, LOYAL3, and there are absolutely no fees to get or sell your share this year – and no fee to maintain your account as long as you’re an active customer. https://newsroom.t-mobile.com/news-and-blogs/un-carrier-11.htm https://newsroom.t-mobile.com/news-and-blogs/un-carrier-11.h... There's more details in the prospectus: > No charge for sales of Shares within 12 months after receipt. Beginning 12 months after you receive your last Stock Up Reward, LOYAL3 may impose a sales charge of up to $5.00 per transaction https://d1mfhr91ibccjl.cloudfront.net/docs/statler/prospectus.pdf https://d1mfhr91ibccjl.cloudfront.net/docs/statler/prospectu... Taxes, of course, are inescapable.

nikolay 10y ago

Stupid! Now it's tough to keep cusotomers, not acquire new ones! Edit: All you downvoting me - I've been a T-Mobile customer since there's T-Mobile in California, i.e. way more than a decade, but many of my friends are switching away as all this time, they've had the worst coverage, and don't care to improve it! They even decline CellSpot for lousy reasons!

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

fapjacks 10y ago

T-Mobile is one giant running scam. Nothing is what it sounds like with them.

rmason 10y ago

I had never heard the term postpaid. If I'm prepaying my bill why isn't that more worthy of extras, after all they've got use of my cash? Why isn't this better than simply paying after I get the bill also known as postpaid?

Splendor 10y ago
"Postpaid" customers signed a service contract when they joined. Prepaid customers are month-to-month and usually less desirable.
- ac29 10y ago
  Nope, postpaid customers just undergo a credit check before starting their plans [source: I am one]. I don't think it's even possible to not be month-to-month on T-mobile.
mmanfrin 10y ago
Postpaid plans can be pretty easily upsold on other non-minutes/non-data expendables (like upgrading a phone), which then further help to 'lock in' customers. Although I think most of all is just the history of how the phone industry has evolved its plans: postpaid is an evolution of contracts, so everyone sees it as a more consistent flow than prepaid (which has the legacy of burner phones/plans; that $40 this month does not guarantee $40 next month in the way that postpaid plans do).
Thetawaves 10y ago
Postpaid is the opposite of prepaid, and is simply a matter of the billing structure. It has implications on the nature of the relationship with the carrier. Postpaid contracts tend to offer a large variety of services and options. The bill is a direct result of the usage during that billing period, including fees/costs for excessive usage. Prepaid contracts tend to offer a minimal amount of services that are paid up-front. If customer usage exceeds what they paid for, the service is cut off. The carrier has no duty to provide service beyond what the contract states, and indeed the point is to remove that liability from the customer as well.

Animats 10y ago

This is Loyal3's thing - it's an affinity program that pays off in stock shares. Loyal3 also does small IPOs. This was supposed to be a service for startups, sort of the next step after Kickstarter. But nobody seems to be using it. Loyal3's IPO sales have been small pieces of big IPOs, such as GoPro and Square. The problem is getting enough attention that people buy stock in your unknown company.

justin66 10y ago

As with almost all awards of stock to normal human beings, I'm sure the recipients would prefer cash.

mikestew 10y ago
Sure, I'd prefer cash. Fill out a form, click a button, so easy anyone could do it! Which is why Tmo is giving you a share of stock instead. Put up just a little bit of a barrier, and you won't have to give the prize to everybody. (I'm still taking my share, though, even if there are a few hoops involved. Hell, I might even buy 99 more shares just to make it an even lot of 100.)