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Comment by PascLeRasc | Hacker News Reader

Off topic: when companies give out stock like this, where is it coming from? Are they printing shares out of thin air or buying back shares to give to employees?

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Cash-rich companies (especially the large tech ones) do share buybacks very regularly. Facebook bought back $14.4B worth of shares in Q3 2021, and announced a further $50B worth of buybacks in the coming quarters (https://www.yahoo.com/now/facebook-warns-fourth-quarter-head...). Diluting existing shares to give out employee bonuses are comparatively a drop in the bucket.

Not true. Facebook's share count has been roughly neutral, slightly negative. The buybacks get canceled out by employee equity issuances.

Look at Apple's share count over time if you want to see a buyback not overpowered/diluted by employee equity.

https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/FB/meta-platforms/...

https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/aapl/apple/shares-...

It's possible these new rounds of buybacks are far in excess of employee comp though, just saying historically speaking.

Thin air, although most tech companies are buying back more shares than they give out.

They issue more stock and the existing investors’ ownership is diluted.

Depends on the company. Dilution is normal, but some companies are buying back stock to use up excess cash; in this case, they can issue those shares to employees.

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