[tamade]

That last sentence is corporate PR spin. They very much need this capital to run the business, ie, they didn't have enough money to pay taxes.

[zaroth]

They aren’t raising the money to pay corporate taxes.

They are doing this so their employees can pay taxes on otherwise illiquid shares (i.e. taxes the employees can’t afford).

[gmd63]

Isn't managing employee satisfaction part of running a business?

[zaroth]

Everything that Stripe does is part of running their business, that’s just a tautology.

[camjw]

They could have just let employee options expire and then they wouldn't have had the tax bill. Though, I imagine recruitment would become a bit harder then.

[jeremyjh]

They didn’t have enough to pay their employee’s taxes on unrealized gains.