Fully Diluted Shares
Fully diluted shares estimate common shares under stated conversion and exercise assumptions, helping compare ownership, financing terms, and valuation.
Restricted stock units and fully diluted share counts, with attention to vesting, award reserves, potential ownership, and reported EPS.
Equity compensation can give employees claims to future shares. Understanding those claims requires separating an award’s grant, vesting, and settlement from the common shares already outstanding.
Restricted Stock Units explains the award and its conditions. Fully Diluted Shares shows how outstanding awards and an agreed reserve for future grants can enter a capitalization table and change an ownership percentage.
For grants with an exercise price, see Employee Stock Options. For the separate question of financial reporting, Dilution Effect on Earnings Per Share explains why the accounting denominator can differ from gross potential shares.
Read the award agreement and capitalization definition together. A reserve for future grants is not the same as an outstanding award, and neither automatically represents shares that can already be sold or voted.
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Fully diluted shares estimate common shares under stated conversion and exercise assumptions, helping compare ownership, financing terms, and valuation.
A restricted stock unit promises future shares or cash; vesting, settlement, withholding, and sale restrictions determine what the employee receives.