What Non-US Startups Need to Know About Granting Stock Options
What Every Start Up Should Know About Stock Options
Common Equity Plan Pitfalls
Why is a 409A Valuation Important?
Early Exercise Stock Options
Nowotny on Death and Taxes Episode 6 Surfs Up Dude! High Tech Tax Solutions for High Tech Workers
Episode 26: Talking Tax Reform and Executive Comp
This article is the second in our series on equity-based compensation intended to assist employers with answering a common question: What type of equity compensation award is best for our company and our employees?...more
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on May 30, 2024, approved a settled final judgment against technology company Arista Networks' former chairman and CEO, Andreas "Andy" Bechtolsheim based on...more
New SEC disclosure requirements take effect soon. Together with recent accounting guidance, it’s timely for companies to review their equity grant practices and any vulnerabilities to criticism for “spring-loading” or...more
On November 2, 2022, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced the adoption of amendments to Form N-PX and related rules to extend public company stockholder vote disclosure filing requirements beyond...more
Employers who compensate employees through nonqualified stock options or restricted stock units (“RSUs”) should be aware of an upcoming Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) rule change affecting the settlement of...more
In SEC v Panuwat, a federal jury in California will hear a novel insider trading theory that the court has allowed to proceed to trial. In Panuwat, the SEC says it is unlawful for an individual to purchase securities of a...more
On December 19, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit vacated the Share Repurchase Disclosure Modernization rule (Repurchase Rule) that was adopted by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in May...more
Attached please find the updated Foreign Listed Stock Index Futures and Options Approvals Chart, current as of December 19, 2023. All prior versions are superseded and should be discarded. Please note the following...more
All companies that have securities listed in the United States, including foreign and domestic companies, are required to adopt an executive compensation recoupment (a.k.a. “clawback”) policy by, in most cases, no later than...more
On August 25, 2023, the staff of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC’s) Division of Corporation Finance issued guidance to address certain open questions on the amendments to Rule 10b5-1 and related disclosure...more
In May 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) amended its rules to significantly increase the disclosures public companies must make about repurchases of their equity securities. The recent amendments are the...more
No Next-Business-Day Reporting Requirement - On May 3, 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved final rules governing disclosure of repurchases of issuers' equity securities that are registered under the...more
On May 3, 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission adopted amendments to Item 703 of Regulation S-K which were proposed in December 2021 as part of the SEC’s goal of “improving the quality, relevance and timeliness” of...more
FINRA recently provided an update on the August 2021 review of its members’ practices and controls related to the opening of options accounts and related areas, including account supervision, communications, and diligence. ...more
Cornerstone Research reports that during the first six months of 2022, plaintiffs filed 110 securities class actions, a pace that is generally in line — 2.8% higher — with what we saw in the second half of 2021. Looking...more
Given the significant decline in the stock prices of many companies over the past several months of 2022, a number of companies are reassessing their equity programs and considering repricing outstanding employee stock...more
Given recent market trends, many private companies have seen valuations decline significantly, resulting in an increasing number of service providers holding “underwater” or “out of the money” stock options. As a...more
Stock option grant practices have been the subject of recent guidance from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and continue to be scrutinized by various parties for compliance with the tax requirements of the...more
In this time of market volatility, White & Case LLP partners Colin Diamond (Chair of US Public Company Advisory) and Henrik Patel (Global Head of Employment, Compensation and Benefits) address the securities law, tax and...more
The SEC recently announced the filing of a settled action against Bernard L. Compton, a former Domino's Pizza executive accused of insider trading. The case, though somewhat typical in its facts, highlights two of the SEC's...more
District Court Denies Payday Lender's Bid To Dismiss SEC Enforcement Action; Delaware Chancery Court Dismisses Camping World Insider Trading Derivative Suit; California Federal Judge Certifies Class Of Apple Common-Stock...more
On December 15, 2021, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed a new rule “intended to improve the quality, relevance and timeliness of information related to issuer share repurchases.” Specifically, the new rule...more
On December 15, the SEC proposed rules to address two stated priorities for the agency under Chair Gary Gensler: modernizing disclosure of share repurchases and curbing perceived abuses around Rule 10b5-1 and insider trading....more
Last week, the SEC announced the adoption of Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 120 (SAB 120), which provides guidance for companies as to how they should recognize and disclose the cost of providing “spring-loaded” awards to...more
In its latest move to press for stronger regulation of executive compensation, on November 29, 2021, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced staff accounting guidance on share-based executive compensation awards...more