Follow the connection between a security, its holder, and its rights. This reading collection brings together public shares, founder allocations, private equity interests, and employee awards. Use it to compare the instruments without pretending they all have the same voting power, liquidity, or payout priority. The recurring question is simple: what exactly do you own, and which documents explain it?
Read the instrument first
Begin by identifying the actual issuer, security, and holder. Then use the linked articles to examine percentages, rights, restrictions, and the relevant transaction sequence. For each example, ask whether the figure describes an award, an issued share, a fund interest, or a fully diluted scenario. The label determines which next question is useful.
Employee Stock Options: How to Read Your Equity Grant
Read an employee stock option grant with a framework for vesting, exercise costs, ownership percentages, departure rules, taxes, and liquidity.
Share Buybacks Explained: Follow the Cash and the Share Count
Examine share buybacks through cash use, net share changes, EPS arithmetic, purchase prices, and financing choices without assuming value creation.
Stock Equity Explained: Shares, Rights, and Real Ownership
Understand stock equity, common and preferred shares, ownership percentages, market value, and the questions to ask before interpreting a holding.
Private Equity Explained: Funds, Buyouts, and Ownership Economics
Separate private equity fund interests from company ownership, and examine buyout financing, cash flows, performance measures, fees, and incentives.
Founder Equity Splits: A Practical Guide to Ownership and Commitment
Work through founder equity splits, future commitments, hiring pools, vesting, departures, and the documents behind an ownership agreement.