Uber went public last week and their shares have been plummeting ever since. Despite this, singer Beyonce has still managed to score a $300 million profit from her investment. Many are wondering how this is possible since Uber’s shares plunged during the first week, closing as low as 17% below its IPO price!
Well, according to The New York Times, Beyonce received $6 million in restricted stock units (RSUs) from Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick to perform at a private company event in Las Vegas in 2015.
Here’s a little bit of information about restricted stock units (RSU). It’s compensation issued by an employer to an employee in the form of company stock that are assigned a fair market value when they vest. Upon vesting, the stock units are considered income, and a portion of the shares is withheld to pay income taxes. The employee receives the remaining shares and can sell them at his or her discretion.
So, Beyonce, although not a regular employee of Uber, was in fact “an employee” temporarily when she performed at the company’s private event. While the exact value of the shares at the time is not known, it can be assumed that the value was around $20 to $25 per share.
But when Uber’s IPO initially debuted, it started trading at $42 per share. So, if she sold her shares immediately despite the IPO plummeting, she could have easily made $300 million or more from her shares.
Another win for the Beehive!
