Hacker News Reader

Name and shame, please.

Why is this downvoted?

Is it even legal? You spent money on your options, if they get extinguished, you should be compensated in some way

He can write it off as a total loss.

If the company went through bankruptcy after he purchased the shares and was subsequently re-capitalized and then became successful, his shares would have been canceled in the recapitalization. Likely by dilution to minutia.

Regardless of the method, the company would be required to inform all shareholders of such events. I'd be curious to know how the corporate books were managed at the time he purchased the shares.

Some companies do a reverse split just before liquidity event to wipe out former employees and lock-in current employees, like a 10:1 reverse split.

Which company?

Not OP, but I recall Zenga did something similar and completely screwed over their employees just before their IPO.

I've heard of many other instances as well so this must be a somewhat common tactic.