Ideal entity for equity grants with call options?
May 05, 2024
by a searcher in San Francisco, CA, USA
I bought a business that is initially under an LLC designation but can be changed to an S-Corp. My plan is to eventually hire a GM type person to whom I can grant a 10%-20% equity grant but here is the trick, I want to institute a call option on the stock I grant to this hire. The actual benefit for this hire will be profit share comparable to the equity % that they are assigned. If they are not a part of the company anymore, I will exercise my call option and buy back their shares at a predetermined nominal value (say 1 cent per share).
Given the above requirement, what would be the best entity structure? I like the general tax benefits and flexibility of S-Corp. But can I execute my above plan with an S-Corp entity?
Fwiw - the business is in California.