Deals
CEOs Are Starting to Bank Billion-Dollar Bonuses With IPOs
- Stock granted without saying if there are performance hurdles
- Chinese tech startups are listing in Hong Kong, New York
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It’s a good time for founders in China to take their startups public, at least by one measure.
Chief executive officers are beginning to get ten-figure bonuses with their initial public offerings. In the latest example, the CEO of Shanghai-based Pinduoduo Inc., received at least $1 billion of stock without any performance hurdles as his e-commerce company prepares for a U.S. IPO. Lei Jun, the head of Beijing-based smartphone maker Xiaomi Corp. saw a $1.5 billion payday, with no strings attached, when his company went public in July. When JD.com Inc. went public in 2014, it incurred $591 million of costs from a stock grant to its chief.