liquidation event

Advanced 🚀 Startup / VC

Definition

A corporate action where shareholders finally get to convert their paper wealth into actual money—or discover their shares are worthless after preferences. It's payday or apocalypse, with no middle ground.

Example Usage

The acquisition was technically a liquidation event, but after the preferences paid out, common stockholders got approximately nothing.

Origin

Corporate finance and securities law terminology, formalized in venture capital deal structures.

Fun Fact

Multiple liquidation preferences can mean investors get paid multiple times their investment before common shareholders see a dime, making early equity grants potentially worthless.

Source: Corporate finance and securities law

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