The once-trendy, San Francisco-born coffeeshop chain Philz Coffee has struck a deal to be sold off to a private equity firm for $145 million, but any employees who bought stock are getting the shaft, as they won’t see a penny of that money.
In a liquidation sale, common stock holders only get paid if there is money left over after everyone else gets their cut. Creditors, bondholders and preferred stock holders are ahead of them in line.
It’s also worth pointing out that the company is not publicly traded, it’s privately owned, so in effect the shares were always worthless. It’s not clear to me if they were actually ownership shares or just options against the possibility of the company going public at some point in the future.
What the fuck? How is that even legal? Aren’t stocks supposed to be ownership stakes in the company? How can they just take that away?
In a liquidation sale, common stock holders only get paid if there is money left over after everyone else gets their cut. Creditors, bondholders and preferred stock holders are ahead of them in line.
It’s also worth pointing out that the company is not publicly traded, it’s privately owned, so in effect the shares were always worthless. It’s not clear to me if they were actually ownership shares or just options against the possibility of the company going public at some point in the future.