
Ask HN: Say I have shares of AMZN and soon will work there.  What are the rules? - enndee
How are these shares treated legally that were acquired before my employment?  Am I now restricted in when I sell those shares due to insider trading concerns?  That is, do my pre-existing shares get lumped together with other shares that I get in the form of employee stock options?<p>I&#x27;m trying to decide if it&#x27;d make more sense to sell before my employment begins (assuming I&#x27;m comfortable with the share price at that time).
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mtmail
> do my pre-existing shares get lumped together

Not at all. You can buy and share on the public market. To sell stock options
you need the approval of the payroll department (likely automated by some
internal process/tool) because effectively they do a buy (options -> shares)
and sell in one transaction for you.

> Am I now restricted in when I sell those shares

Only director or vice president level are restricted and even those only
during certain timeframes around quarterly earning announcements. I used to
work there but my knowledge on 2018 internal rules might be outdated.

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enndee
> Only director or vice president level are restricted and even those only
> during certain timeframes around quarterly earning announcements.

I realize that high-level employees are the ones that jump through these
hoops. But according to
[https://www.investopedia.com/articles/03/100803.asp](https://www.investopedia.com/articles/03/100803.asp)
it looks like any insider with material non-public information could be
subject to insider trading violations by the SEC.

So if I'm a low-level coder and discover a critical flaw that would materially
affect the stock price once made public, shouldn't it be wrong for me to sell
my shares at that point?

~~~
mtmail
Agree. I think it would be wrong to sell in that situation.

