Stockholders' Equity

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2016

Equity [Abstract]

Stockholders' Equity

6. STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY

Common stock

As of December 31, 2016 the Company had reserved 2,661,244 shares of common stock for issuance upon the exercise of outstanding common stock options and vesting of restricted stock units. Also, 2,432,184 shares of the Company’s common stock were reserved for future grants of stock options and restricted stock units (or other similar equity instruments) under the Rubicon Technology, Inc. 2016 Stock Incentive Plan (the “2016 Plan”) as of December 31, 2016. In addition, 24,380 shares of the Company’s common stock were reserved for future exercise of outstanding warrants as of December 31, 2015.

Warrants

At December 31, 2015, the Company had outstanding 24,380 warrants to purchase shares of common stock at an exercise price of $3.65 per share. The warrants were issued in conjunction with the issuance of convertible promissory notes issued by the Company to investors from August 2005 through October 2005. The warrants were immediately exercisable and expired 10 years from the date of issuance. These warrants expired during the year ended December 31, 2016.

Treasury stock

The treasury shares are accounted for using the cost method whereby the entire cost of the acquired stock is recorded as treasury stock. The Board of Directors approved an arrangement to pay to one of its directors in cash one-half of the fees payable to him for director services in the fourth quarter of 2016; this resulted in the disposition to the Company of 33,476 shares of restricted stock previously granted to the director in exchange for a cash payment of $21,093, which represented the then-current fair market value of the shares. The Company did not repurchase any shares for the twelve months ended December 31, 2015.