Exclusive: SecondMarket Data On Private Company Stock Sales

SecondMarket opened up its private company stock marketplace in early 2009 and gave employees at hot startups something they never had before - an organized place to sell their stock even before the company went public or was acquired. For the first time the company is releasing information on private company buy/sell demand and completed transactions. Most companies don't SecondMarket one bit, at least at first blush. Companies don't want random outsiders holding their stock before they're public. And they don't like some employees having liquidity events before others, it tends to screw around with morale. And there are also legal and tax issues. Stock options must be priced at "fair market value" or both the employee and company face tax consequences. The board of directors usually sets the common stock price at a fraction of the preferred price. But when there are verified third party purchases on places like SecondMarket, the companies have to use those sales as a guide. The result is higher priced options for all employees. But we've seen a big evolution in startup stock dynamics over the last year. Companies like Facebook and Zynga have created controlled secondary markets for their employees to sell stock, generally at around 65% of the preferred price. Yelp seems to be doing the same . Giving employees a way to "take some money off the table" isn't such a bad thing after all. Think of it as releasing some of the steam in the pressure cooker. So about that data.