The 180-day lock-up period and insiders’ equity selling

This article examines how insiders who provide capital and advisory services determine the proportion of common stock to be sold during an IPO and shows that, after the IPO, a high-value investee's insiders continue to hold a significant fraction of its equity stake relative to a low-value investee's insiders. The result is consistent with the signaling of the insider trader reputation, the lock-up argument, and the only least-cost separating equilibrium that survives the intuitive criterion.