founders' shares

American  

plural noun

Finance.

1. shares of stock given, at least nominally, for consideration to the organizers or original subscribers of a corporation, sometimes carrying special voting privileges, but likely to receive dividends after other classes of stock.

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founders' shares British  

plural noun

1. shares awarded to the founders of a company and often granting special privileges

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Etymology

Origin of founders' shares

First recorded in 1885–90

Example Sentences

And while it didn't mention Thiel or his PayPal co-founders, the report laid out how startup founders' shares could be used to render IRA contribution limits irrelevant.

From Salon • Jun. 25, 2021

Victor Fleischer, a tax law professor at the University of California, Irvine who has written about the valuation of founders' shares, read the PayPal filings at ProPublica's request.

From Salon • Jun. 25, 2021

Although they might own most of the company when it launches, over time, the value of founders’ shares is often reduced by new investors with deeper pockets.

From Nature • Feb. 12, 2019

Sole voting power in the $15,000,000 concern rests with 185,500 founders' shares.

From Time Magazine Archive

And Nucingen held in reserve founders' shares in Heaven knows what coal and argentiferous lead-mines, also in a couple of canals; the shares had been given to him for bringing out the concerns.

From The Firm of Nucingen by Balzac, Honoré de