June 24, 2025 – Candor, the premier platform helping CFOs manage their stock based comp expense (SBC)  effectively, today announced its Impact Shield product, the first RSU tax settlement optimization solution. Impact Shield is designed by a team of former institutional traders and engineers to preserve shareholder value and minimize stock price impact during scheduled RSU vesting events.

Candor’s analysis over the last 24 months reveals that public companies can lose 2-6% off their market cap per quarter due to poorly executed open market sales used to fund the tax liability on RSUs. Additional internal research indicates the recovery periods for a company’s stock price can last up to 2.5 months where institutional investors see zero returns. Candor's solution addresses this blind spot by bringing a tech forward, automated capital markets platform to their clients tax liability needs.

"Most CFOs don't realize they're eroding shareholder value through routine RSU tax settlement," said Niya Dragova, CEO of Candor. "Brokers use the same trading execution regardless of market conditions or individual stock characteristics, creating predictable patterns for traders from the buy-side and sell-side to exploit. How your shares get to market matters more than you realize. We’ve built a platform that brings institutional grade execution to equity compensation."

The Cost of Poor Execution

The problem starts with the timing of RSU vesting events, which typically coincide with earnings and open trading windows - a period that inevitably has increased volatility. Brokers using standard trading practices don’t account for seasonal trends in your stock, leading to staggering consequences. In the current environment, companies experience:

• Enormous and unpredictable market cap losses with each sell-to-cover, for some companies up to $1B each quarter
• Volume spikes of 20-40% on sell-to-cover days
• Recovery periods up to 2.5 months with ongoing negative investor sentiment
• Employee sentiment deterioration as their shares lose value post-vesting

"We've analyzed companies that experienced months-long recovery periods where institutional investors made zero returns," noted Chen Chen, Head of Quantitative Research at Candor. "This is value destruction that CFOs can control."

Solutions for Public Companies

Candor's platform offers execution strategies to preserve shareholder value:

• True VWAP Execution: Reduces price impact by up to 12x using Candor’s proprietary trading technology
• Combined Settlement Strategies: Anti-dilutive approaches including withholding combined with buyback timing
• Multi-Venue Execution: Leverages multiple lit venues and dark pools to source additional liquidity and eliminate market impact
• Timing Optimization: Extending execution windows beyond traditional brokers’ timeframes to align with your stock’s profile 

Incentive Aligned Approach

Unlike brokers who profit from transaction volume, Candor operates in the best interest of the company - not the broker, ensuring recommendations prioritize shareholder value over transaction fees.

"The equity compensation industry has treated tax settlement as administration rather than capital markets activity," said Dragova. "CFOs need execution strategies that meet cash demands for taxes, not volume controls marketed as trading."

Results

Early adopters have achieved:

• Reduced market impact up to 12x through using Candor’s proprietary trading technology
• Eliminated recovery periods through execution timing
• Improved employee equity sentiment by preserving post-vesting value
• Enhanced institutional investor relationships through value consciousness

The solution provides seamless onboarding and is complementary to existing processes, requiring no operational disruption.