shares awarded to the founders of a company and often granting special privileges
founders' shares in American English
plural noun
Finance
shares of stock given, at least nominally, for consideration to the organizers or original subscribers of a corporation, sometimes carrying special voting privileges, but likely to receive dividends after other classes of stock
Word origin
[1885–90]This word is first recorded in the period 1885–90. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: booster, foregut, roller coaster, seminar, upsweep
Examples of 'founders' shares' in a sentence
founders' shares
At that level, the company was worth more than 800m and the founders' shares valued at 130m.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
The legal battle was settled at the end of last year and the founders' shares have all gone to new homes.