Flipkart offers more ESOPs to make up for drop in company valuation

40% of all eligible employees had been allotted ESOPs

Flipkart will issue differential stock options to eligible employees to offset the drop in value of their shareholding in the company. Flipkart recently raised $1.4 billion from Tencent, eBay and Microsoft at a valuation 23 per cent lower than its peak.

Companies issue differential stocks to investors to protect the value of their investments. Founders suffer the most in such situations with their shareholding being diluted excessively.

Flipkart founders Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal held 7.5 per cent stake each when the company raised $700 million at $15.2-billion valuation in July 2015. 

The grant of additional shares was to ensure