Annual report pursuant to Section 13 and 15(d)

Stock-Based Compensation

v3.20.4
Stock-Based Compensation
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2020
Share-based Payment Arrangement [Abstract]  
Stock-Based Compensation and Employee Benefit Plans Stock-Based Compensation and Employee Benefit Plans
Common Stock
Each share of common stock is entitled to one vote per share and holders of the common stock vote as a single class of stock on any matter that is submitted to a vote of stockholders.
Employee Compensation Plans
At December 31, 2020, the Company had stock-based compensation awards outstanding under the following plans: the 2004 Stock Plan, the 2010 Equity Incentive Plan, as amended, or 2010 Plan, and the 2010 Employee Stock Purchase Plan, or ESPP, and plans under which equity incentive awards were assumed in connection with the acquisitions of Entropic Corporation in 2015 and Exar Corporation in 2017. All current stock awards are issued under the 2010 Plan and ESPP.
2010 Equity Incentive Plan
The 2010 Plan, as amended, provides for the grant of incentive stock options, non-statutory stock options, restricted stock awards, restricted stock unit awards, stock appreciation rights, performance-based stock awards, and other forms of equity compensation, or collectively, stock awards. The aggregate number of shares of common stock that may be issued pursuant to stock awards under the 2010 Plan will increase by any shares subject to stock options or other awards granted under the 2004 Stock Plan that expire or otherwise terminate without having been exercised in full and shares issued pursuant to awards granted under the 2004 Stock Plan that are forfeited to or repurchased by the Company. In addition, the number of shares of common stock reserved for issuance will automatically increase on the first day of each fiscal year, equal to the lesser of: 2,583,311 shares of the Company’s common stock; four percent (4%) of the outstanding shares of the Company’s common stock on the last day of the immediately preceding fiscal year; or such lesser amount as the Company’s board of directors may determine. Options granted will generally vest over a four years period and the term can be from seven to ten years.
The 2010 plan , as amended, contains a clawback policy, which requires the Company's executive officers to repay to MaxLinear certain incentive compensation if (i) the Company restates its financial statements as a result of a material error or due to material non-compliance with reporting requirements under applicable law; (ii) no more than three (3) years have elapsed since the original filing date of the financial statements; and (iii) an independent committee of the board’s compensation committee determines, in its sole discretion, that the misreporting event occurred due to fraud or intentional misconduct within MaxLinear and, following consideration of such factors as the committee may deem reasonable and appropriate, including the extent to which an executive officer knew or should have known of the factors resulting in the misreporting, that the executive officer should repay any “recoverable compensation.” Recoverable compensation is defined in the clawback policy but generally includes any cash or equity compensation paid to executive officers under the Company's Executive Incentive Bonus Plan or 2010 Equity Incentive Plan, as amended, to the extent the amount actually paid by MaxLinear exceeds the amount that would have been paid if the financial misreporting event had not occurred. To date, there has been no repayment of compensation from executive officers pursuant to such clawback policy.
As of December 31, 2020, the number of shares reserved for future issuance under the 2010 Plan and awards outstanding under the 2004 Plan are 14,879,764 shares and 0 shares, respectively.
2010 Employee Stock Purchase Plan
The ESPP authorizes the issuance of shares of the Company’s common stock pursuant to purchase rights granted to the Company’s employees. The number of shares of the Company’s common stock reserved for issuance will automatically increase on the first day of each fiscal year, equal to the least of: 968,741 shares of the Company’s common stock; one and a quarter percent (1.25%) of the outstanding shares of the Company’s common stock on the first day of the fiscal year; or such lesser amount as may be determined by the Company's board of directors or a committee appointed by the Company's board of directors to administer the ESPP. The ESPP is implemented through a series of offerings of purchase rights to eligible employees. Under the ESPP, the Company may specify offerings with a duration of not more than 27 months, and may specify shorter purchase periods within each offering. Each offering will have one or more purchase dates on which shares of the Company’s common stock will be purchased for employees participating in the offering. An offering may be terminated under certain circumstances. Generally, all eligible employees, including executive officers, employed by the Company may participate in the ESPP and may contribute up to 15% of their earnings for the purchase of the Company’s common stock under the ESPP. Unless otherwise determined by the Company’s board of directors, common stock will be purchased for accounts of employees participating in the ESPP at a price per share equal to the lower of (a) 85% of the fair market value of a share of the Company’s common stock on the first date of an offering or (b) 85% of the fair market value of a share of the Company’s
common stock on the date of purchase. As of December 31, 2020, the number of shares of common stock reserved for future issuance under the ESPP is 3,365,693 shares.
Employee Incentive Bonus
In May 2013, the Company's compensation committee amended its Executive Incentive Bonus Plan to permit the settlement of awards under the plan in any combination of cash or shares of its common stock. Additionally, the Company settles a majority of bonus awards for all other employees in common stock. When bonus awards are settled in common stock issued under the 2010 Plan, the number of shares issuable to plan participants is determined based on the closing sales price of the Company's common stock as determined in trading on the New York Stock Exchange on the date approved by the Board of Directors. In March 2020 and February 2019, the Company issued 0.2 million and 0.3 million freely-tradable shares, respectively, of its common stock in settlement of bonus awards to employees, including executives, for the 2019 and 2018 performance periods, respectively. At December 31, 2020, an accrual of $32.8 million was recorded for bonus awards for employees for the 2020 performance period, which the Company intends to settle primarily in shares of its common stock, unless otherwise required to be settled in cash due to local laws or agreements. Common stock in settlement of employee bonuses is to be issued under the Company’'s 2010 Equity Incentive Plan, as amended, with the number of shares issuable to plan participants determined based on the closing sales price of the Company’s common stock as determined in trading on the New York Stock Exchange at a date to be determined. The Company's compensation committee retains discretion to effect payment in cash, stock, or a combination of cash and stock.
Stock-Based Compensation
The Company recognizes stock-based compensation expense in the consolidated statements of operations, based on the department to which the related employee reports, as follows:
Years Ended December 31,
2020 2019 2018
(in thousands)
Cost of net revenue $ 577  $ 557  $ 489 
Research and development 22,252  16,545  17,953 
Selling, general and administrative 24,172  14,938  13,279 
Restructuring expense 596  —  — 
$ 47,597  $ 32,040  $ 31,721 
The total unrecognized compensation cost related to unvested restricted stock units as of December 31, 2020 was $79.7 million, and the weighted average period over which these equity awards are expected to vest is 2.8 years. The total unrecognized compensation cost related to performance-based restricted stock units as of December 31, 2020 was $11.4 million, and the weighted average period over which these equity awards are expected to vest is 1.4 years. The total unrecognized compensation cost related to unvested stock options as of December 31, 2020 was $1.0 million, and the weighted average period over which these equity awards are expected to vest is 1.5 years.
Restricted Stock Units
A summary of the Company’s restricted stock unit activity is as follows:
Number of Shares
(in thousands)
Weighted-Average Grant-Date Fair Value per Share
Outstanding at December 31, 2019 2,924  $ 21.72 
  Granted 4,601  18.96 
  Vested (1,197) 20.57 
  Canceled (496) 18.44 
Outstanding at December 31, 2020 5,832  20.05 
Performance-Based Restricted Stock Units
Performance-based restricted stock units are eligible to vest at the end of each fiscal year in a three-year performance period based on the Company’s annual growth rate in net sales and non-GAAP diluted earnings per share (subject to certain adjustments) over baseline results relative to the growth rates for a peer group of companies for the same metrics and periods.
For the performance-based restricted stock units granted, 60% of each performance-based award is subject to the net sales metric for the performance period and 40% is subject to the non-GAAP diluted earnings per share metric for the performance period. The maximum percentage for a particular metric is 250% of the target number of units subject to the award related to that metric, however, vesting of the performance stock units is capped at 30% and 100%, respectively, of the target number of units subject to the award in years one and two, respectively, of the three-year performance period.
As of December 31, 2020, the Company believes that it is probable that the Company will achieve performance metrics specified in the award agreement based on its expected revenue and non-GAAP diluted EPS results over the performance period and calculated growth rates relative to its peers’ expected results based on data available, as defined in the respective award agreements.
A summary of the Company’s performance-based restricted stock unit activity is as follows:
Number of Shares
(in thousands)
Weighted-Average Grant-Date Fair Value per Share
Outstanding at December 31, 2019 445  $ 22.21 
  Granted(1)
1,416  11.67 
  Vested (21) 22.21 
  Canceled (118) 15.98 
Outstanding at December 31, 2020 1,722  13.97 
________________
(1) Number of shares granted is based on the maximum percentage achievable in the performance-based restricted stock unit award.
Employee Stock Purchase Rights and Stock Options
Employee Stock Purchase Rights
During the year ended December 31, 2020, there were 285,633 shares of common stock purchased under the ESPP at a weighted average price of $13.29.
The fair values of employee stock purchase rights were estimated using the Black-Scholes option pricing model at their respective grant date using the following assumptions:
Years Ended December 31,
2020 2019 2018
Weighted-average grant date fair value per share
$6.41 - $8.66
$5.48 - $6.61
$5.01 - $5.37
Risk-free interest rate
0.12% - 0.15%
1.59% - 2.43%
2.09% - 2.51%
Dividend yield —  % —  % —  %
Expected term (in years) 0.5 0.5 0.5
Volatility
59.72% - 93.25%
40.47% - 43.14%
38.82% - 46.17%
The risk-free interest rate assumption was based on the United States (U.S.) Treasury zero-coupon bonds with maturities similar to those of the expected term of the award being valued. The assumed dividend yield was based on the Company’s expectation of not paying dividends in the foreseeable future. The expected term is the duration of the offering period for each grant date. In addition, the estimated volatility incorporates the historical volatility over the expected term based on the Company's daily closing stock prices.
Stock Options
A summary of the Company’s stock option activity is as follows:
Number of Options
(in thousands)
Weighted-Average Exercise Price Weighted-Average Contractual Term
(in years)
Aggregate Intrinsic Value
(in thousands)
Outstanding at December 31, 2019 1,337  $ 13.05 
Exercised (496) 9.78 
Canceled (44) 20.85 
Outstanding at December 31, 2020 797  $ 14.67  2.7 $ 18,757 
Vested and expected to vest at December 31, 2020 797  $ 14.67  2.7 $ 18,757 
Exercisable at December 31, 2020 664  $ 13.90  2.4 $ 16,123 
No stock options were granted by the Company during the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019.

The fair values of stock options granted in 2018 were estimated using the Black-Scholes option pricing model on the grant date using the following assumptions:
December 31,
2018
Weighted-average grant date fair value per share $ 8.14 
Risk-free interest rate 2.76  %
Dividend yield —  %
Expected term (in years) 5.50
Volatility 44.30  %
The risk-free interest rate assumption was based on the U.S. Treasury's rates for zero-coupon bonds with maturities similar to those of the expected term of the award being valued. The assumed dividend yield was based on the Company’s expectation of not paying dividends in the foreseeable future. The expected term of the options was calculated using the simplified method as prescribed by guidance provided by the SEC. This decision was based on the lack of historical data due to the Company’s limited number of stock option exercises under the 2010 Equity Incentive Plan. Estimated volatility incorporates historical volatility of the Company over the expected term based on the Company's daily closing stock prices.
The intrinsic value of stock options exercised during 2020, 2019 and 2018 was $4.9 million, $22.2 million, and $8.1 million, respectively. Cash received from exercise of stock options was $4.4 million, $4.5 million and $0.7 million during the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively. The tax benefit from stock options exercised was $5.2 million, $20.7 million, and $7.8 million during the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively.