I co-founded a company with some people and have a million stocks. If I leave now, do I still own the stocks?

Question

I've gotten fed up with how the company's being run so what I really want to do is just leave and start a new company with some other friends. I don't want to lose the stocks as I've worked so hard to get this far. I also know that the shares will grow in price. Please let me know.

Answer 1

Depends on how the agreements were worked out.  I would contact the corporate attorney who wrote up your Article of Incorporation.

Answer 2

Depends on your bylaws, shareholder agreements, corporate stock policies, among other things.  Many shareholder agreements with founders include "clawback" provisions, under which you will lose some amount of stock if you leave before some amount of time. For example, you may get to keep 100% after 3 years, 50% after 1 year, 10 % for less than one year, etc.  You may also be required to forfeit all of your stock, especially if it is a closely held corporation, which is often run more as a partnership than a stock company.  

Consider also that your "million stocks" is in proportion to all of the other authorized and issued shares, so you may have others with more stock than you do and they will (by definition) control the company.