ANALYSIS: Virus Triples the Pain for IPOs & At-Risk Options

The squeeze is on for companies that had planned to go public in 2020—and for the employees who work for them. Covid-19 is giving pre-IPO companies good reason to stay private longer, meaning that there are three notable impacts: First, companies lose new financing; second, employees can’t cash out; and, in at least one instance, employees may lose their stock options altogether.

Per Reuters, companies such as Cole Haan, Warner Music Group, and J Crew spinoff Madewell have already announced they are delaying their public stock offerings; more postponements are likely. For long-running startups like Airbnb ...