Introduction
A share decrease transaction reduces the number of shares a stakeholder owns in your company. You would typically use it for share buybacks, cancellations, forfeitures, share surrenders, or capital reductions.
Who can decrease shares: Users who can edit ownership in Ledgy can create and update share decrease transactions.
When should you decrease shares?
Record a share decrease when shares should be removed from a stakeholder and the total outstanding shares should go down.
Share buyback
Share cancellation
Forfeiture
Share surrender
Capital reduction
How to decrease shares individually
Go to Ownership > Transactions and choose Decrease shares.
Select the stakeholder and share class.
Enter the date and the number of shares to decrease.
Add any optional details you want to keep with the transaction, such as documents, internal notes, beneficiaries, or custom fields.
Click Save.
How to bulk import decreases
Private companies can import decreases in bulk from Ownership > Transactions > Import.
Open the import modal and select the Decrease shares template.
Download the Excel file and fill in the required rows.
Upload the file back to Ledgy.
Imported decrease transactions are created as drafts. Publish them when you are ready for them to affect the cap table.
Share Lots enabled? If you leave the share lots blank on imported decreases, Ledgy assigns them during publishing using FIFO.
How to bulk edit decreases
You can also update existing decrease transactions from Ownership > Transactions > Bulk Edit.
Open Bulk Edit and choose the decrease template.
Download the current data, update only the fields you want to change, and keep the transaction ID column unchanged.
Upload the completed file and click Edit now.
Important: When Share Lots are enabled, the decrease amount and share lot allocation are not bulk editable. Edit the transaction individually if you need to change those values.
What happens after decreasing shares?
Once saved or published, the stakeholder's holding is reduced, the total outstanding shares for that share class decrease, and ownership percentages are recalculated automatically.
If the stakeholder has portfolio access, they will also see the decrease transaction in their history.
Related articles: How to bulk import transactions?, How to edit transactions?, and How do Share Lots work in Ledgy?