---- As the first poster said, don't believe everything you read. The media is all about hype and thousandaires don't roll off the page.
The details: the acquisition price was $5 Million which was made up of $2 Million Cash and $3 Million Stock.
There were 3 founders, Harjeet Taggar, Kulveer Taggar, Patrick Collison. Each founder held 20.89% of the company at the time of sale. YCombinator held 4.38%. Paul Graham personally held 0.96%.
20.89% of $5 Million is $1,044,500. Of course they only have 40% of that in cash and the other 60% is in stock. The stock was $2.69 the day the deal closed. It's now trading at $2.40. If they still have their shares, they are worth 10% less which is a loss of $62,670.
That is all before tax. Factor in capital gains tax of 10-15% before the stock drop and you are already out of millionaire territory.
On an unrelated note, each of the founders are now making a base salary $100,000 at Communicate.com. This does not include bonuses, options, etc.
Source: http://www.edgar-online.com/bin/cobrand/?doc=A-1108630-00011....
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So: Cash (40%): $1,044,500 * 40% = $417,800
Stock (60%): March 25, 2008- LIVC 2.69 $1,044,500 * 60% = $626,700 $626,700 / 2.69 = 232,974 Shares
January 23, 2009 - LIVC 0.41 232,974 * 0.41 = $95,519
"to dot-com millions in Silicon Valley - all in just over a year" - article
Yeah right. I hope he sold his shares in March, cause your stock is down 83% and that means he made barely over $500k, before tax!