Girish Mathrubootham Gets Seven-Year Performance-Linked Stock Award

According to an SEC filing in April, Nasdaq-listed Freshworks Inc has offered CEO Girish Mathrubootham a multi-year stock award in which nine million shares would be distributed in stages, contingent on his continued service at the top and the stock averaging at specific target prices throughout the vesting period.

In a pre-IPO decision in September last year, the Freshworks board approved the award, with a third of the nine million share award routed as Restricted Stock Units (RSUs) that began vesting with him in November last year. According to the document, the performance–linked award of six million shares, to be executed in five tranches of 1.2 million shares until January 2029, is tied to the Freshworks scrip scaling and averaging certain hurdles beginning at $70 a piece and rising to $200 a piece.

According to the SEC filing, the combined RSU award totals $233.4 million in stock value calculated using predictive algorithms centered on the Monte-Carlo simulation. Freshworks granted Mathrubootham $11.7 million in RSUs in 2020.

The SEC filing read: “On September 12, 2021, in recognition of Mr. Mathrubootham’s instrumental role in achieving our strategic and business goals to date and, more importantly, the significant potential impact of his role on an ongoing basis, our board of directors approved the grant of two restricted stock unit awards,” detailing the 9-million share award to Girish Mathrubootham.