Global fintech giant Revolut has extended its share buyback program to former employees, offering them a structured way to liquidate their vested shares. This move provides a formal liquidity event for company alumni at a discount to its latest valuation, reflecting the growing use of company-led secondaries by mature startups to manage their cap tables and reward early contributors.
A Closer Look at the Offer
Revolut is offering to repurchase shares from ex-staffers at a price of $966.74 each, a level that implies a company valuation of about $52.5 billion. The offer is set at a 30 percent discount to the recent employee secondary transaction that priced shares at $1,381.06 and valued the company at $75 billion. A company spokesperson said the buyback was extended after receiving interest from former employees who wanted to sell, building on a program launched earlier in the year.
Although the buyback price sits below the peak valuation, it still represents a significant premium over earlier liquidity events. The $966.74 offer is roughly 12 percent higher than the price in a 2024 secondary sale that valued Revolut at $45 billion, underscoring a clear upward trajectory in private market pricing. For alumni, this creates a more attractive exit point than previous opportunities while allowing Revolut to centralize more of its equity on its own balance sheet.
A Windfall for Revolut Alumni
The buyback initiative presents a substantial financial opportunity for many of Revolut’s former team members. It tackles the typical challenge of illiquid equity in late-stage private companies by enabling alumni to convert paper gains into cash on defined terms. This kind of structured exit mechanism has become a key tool for rewarding the employees who contributed to a company’s early growth but are no longer on the payroll.
Recent analysis of Companies House filings and share registers suggests that over 200 current and former Revolut employees hold equity stakes that are worth more than $1 million at the $75 billion valuation. Even at the discounted $52.5 billion level, many ex-staff still stand to realize life-changing sums if they participate in the buyback. The offer reinforces how equity-based compensation at high-growth fintechs can translate into concentrated wealth for early joiners, even before an IPO.
Navigating a Dynamic Valuation Landscape
This buyback takes place against a backdrop of rapidly rising but volatile valuations for Revolut, now one of Europe’s most valuable neobanks. The company first reached a $33 billion valuation in its high-profile 2021 funding round, and subsequent secondary share sales have pushed that figure substantially higher. The recent $75 billion valuation, set through a secondary transaction and fundraising led by prominent global investors, reflects renewed confidence in its growth profile and profitability.
Understanding the gap between the headline valuation and the discounted buyback is critical. The $75 billion figure comes from a secondary share sale and funding round that allowed current employees and early investors to sell at the top price, while the $966.74 buyback for ex-staffers is structured as a company-led tender offering liquidity at a lower implied valuation. Both transactions are secondary in nature, meaning they do not raise new primary capital but instead provide exits for existing shareholders.
Revolut’s decision to purchase shares from former employees at a discount is therefore a multifaceted strategic step. It delivers welcome liquidity to alumni, still at a materially improved level versus earlier deals, and helps the company simplify and consolidate its shareholder base ahead of any future capital markets moves. Taken together with previous secondary programs and its escalating valuations, the offer illustrates how mature fintech unicorns are using private market tools to balance the interests of past and present stakeholders while remaining private for longer.