2024’s ESOP Boom: Swiggy, Razorpay, and Others Unlock Billions for Employees

Outlook Business Desk

ESOPs in 2024

The trend of companies offering Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) in 2024 highlights a growing commitment to employee wealth creation and retention across various sectors, including food delivery, e-commerce, fintech, and tech startups. Here are the companies that announced ESOPs in 2024

Swiggy

The company unlocked Rs 9,000 crore in ESOP value, leading to 500 employees becoming crorepatis, each earning at least Rs 1 crore. The IPO was listed at Rs 420, an 8 per cent premium over the issue price of Rs 390. Approximately 5,000 current and former employees benefited from this initiative

Paytm (One97 Communications)

The company issued 2.44 lakh equity shares under its ESOP program, bringing the total ESOP cost to Rs 3,336 crore since October 2021. Recently, the stock surged by 185% in six months, reaching a 52-week high of Rs 967.10

X@#Paytm

Zomato

The company allotted 38.72 lakh equity shares, which increased its share capital from Rs 883.05 crore to Rs 883.44 crore. However, it is also facing recent tax issues, having received GST demand notices totaling Rs 4.59 crore

Nykaa (FSN E-commerce Ventures)

On September 12, 2024, the company issued 7.65 lakh equity shares as part of its ESOP program. Despite this allocation, shares traded at Rs 207.65, marking a 1.9 per cent decline on the day. Earlier allocations included 1.73 lakh shares in July and 4.73 lakh shares in June

X@#musclemindco

 Razorpay

The company allocated Rs 1 lakh worth of ESOPs to each of its 3,000+ employees, marking its third employee liquidity event with a large-scale uniform distribution. In FY24, the company's total income grew to Rs 2,501 crore, reflecting significant growth

Pocket FM

The company completed its first ESOP buyback worth $8.3 million and recently raised $103 million in a Series D round, reaching a valuation of $750 million. The focus moving forward is on strengthening its generative AI capabilities and expanding its content library

freepik

Urban Company

The company executed an ESOP buyback worth Rs 203 crore for 446 employees. In addition, it had previously conducted five secondary ESOP sale programs, valued at Rs 306 crore. Looking ahead, the company aims to launch an IPO in the second half of next year.

X@#UrbanCompanyKS

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