Analysis

March 20, 2019

Does Europe need to fix “monkey money” stock options?

More than 500 founders and startup executives have joined the campaign to change the region's “punitive” employee ownership rules


Maija Palmer

9 min read

Photo credit: Denisse Leon on Unsplash

As head of engineering at Take Eat Easy, Sebastien Arbogast, like many managers at startups, used to struggle to hire developers.

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Every country in Europe has its own rules on when share options are taxed — at grant, vesting, exercise, sale, or some combination of all.
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Tax breaks for a relatively small pool of highly skilled workers doesn't always play out well as a political issue.
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