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Why I will not exercise my Gitlab stock options (2017)
- abdabab 5y agoThis is a little sad. That was 1.5 million dollars of vested share for the price of $4050 + taxes.
- polishdude20 5y agoAt the end he says he'd rather invest that $4000 in his family. If I were his family, I'd be pissed he didn't take the 1.5 million.
- ttymck 5y agoHe did not forego 1.5MM, he forewent an illiquid ${2017_Valuation}
- adenadel 5y agoI feel bad too. To me it seems like he was hurt by his firing and wanted to retain no connection to the company.
- toomuchtodo 5y agoNever let your emotions get in the way of profit potential. It’s cold, hard math at the end of the day and you will move on.
- riedel 5y agoWhy is it said if someone does not need/take money? I tend to admire people that put their values above money. Even if I cannot follow the reasoning completely, I think it is rather sad how his time at gitlab ended.
- tr3ntg 5y agoYeah, but those taxes are based on the value of the shares today ($1.5m) minus what it'll cost him ($4k). Even though he's not actually profiting on that difference yet, you still usually owe taxes on it. So we're talking hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes. It's no small thing.
- moneywoes 5y agoSorry dumb question but when would he owe those taxes? At the end of the year?
- moneywoes 5y agoWould they be long term capital gains in this situation?
- booblik 5y agoLOL, no, taxes on today’s valuation are only due when you sell. And that would be very low long term capital gains tax. Albeit in this case the writer is not American so the tax situation might differ.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- aeternum 5y agoSad story but the author did not show sound judgement even on the way out. Very foolish to throw away money by allowing options with a significant premium expire. For anyone else in this position, there are companies that will purchase the options immediately and give you liquidity. Yes they charge a significant fee for the service but at least you get something.
- caffeine 5y ago> I would even prefer to buy Bitcoins for that amount, than to invest it in GitLab. Hope he bought the BTC!