The number of authorized shares per company is assessed at the company’s creation and can only be increased or decreased through a vote by the shareholders. If at the time of incorporation the documents state that 100 shares are authorized, then only 100 shares can be issued.
The owners of a business determine how many shares a company must have to form an S corporation. This can range from 10,000 shares to 1 million shares of S corporation stock. The amount decided on by the owner must be detailed in the Articles of Incorporation when the business is formed.
The number of shares that a company needs to have in order to form an S-corporation is essentially determined by the owners of the business. An S-corporation owner can choose to have as little as 10,000 shares of stock, or as many as a million shares of stock.
Therefore, the number of shares is completely determined by the business and its owners. As soon as you buy shares of stock on the stock market, you become a shareholder within the company by acquiring an ownership stake of the business.
Many experts suggest starting with 10,000, but companies can authorize as little as one share. While 10,000 may seem conservative, owners can file for more authorized stocks at a later time. Typically, business owners should choose a number that includes the stocks being issued and some for reservation.
This applies to S corporations as well as C corporations. There’s no maximum or minimum number of shares for an S corporation any more than for a C, UpCounsel says. There is a limit on shareholders, though: An S corporation can only have 100 of them. Nor can an S corporation issue preferred and common stock.
However, a company commonly has the right to increase the amount of stock it’s authorized to issue through approval by its board of directors. Also, along with the right to issue more shares for sale, a company has the right to buy back existing shares from stockholders.
Since an S Corporation can only issue common stock, it must issue the stock to employees at the same price paid by the investors (unless sold to the founders well in advance of the sale to the investors) if the employees are to avoid being taxed on their receipt of their shares.
On average seed startups will issue from 2% to 8% of stock options (from the fully diluted shares). If a CTO is needed, he may get 1% to 4%. Other employees will typically split the rest, adjusted for experience, seniority, needs of the company, and skillset. You typically can ask for 0.25% to 2.0%.
When a startup is initially formed, it will usually authorize 10,000,000 shares of common stock. The initial allocation of this equity will be broken down into three groups: Founders will be allocated 8,000,000. These shares will be distributed based on each founder’s ownership percentage.