<prompt> Human: Pretty much the question is the same as the title. What is it? What does it mean?Edit: A company offers X dollar amount of shares to me as an on-hire stock award. Granted, Im sure there are tons of strings attached, but do I need to purchase stocks to get that or is it just like a welcome aboard gift?Assistant: Well, the company is going to hand over an amount of shares as a golden hello.No doubt they will be tied up for years, with various conditions, but its still free money. ;-Human: I guess Im just confused, like free money? Or do I need to buy the stock to get that money?  <response>: Its part of your compensation. You dont have to pay to get your compensation. You would have some taxes due when you sell. 