10. Stock-based Compensation

At the Business Combination on December 21, 2020, the Legacy Canoo 2018 Equity Plan was converted to the Company’s 2018 Equity Plan with the Legacy Canoo ordinary shares authorized for issuance pursuant to previously issued awards converted at the Exchange Ratio of 1.239434862 to the Company’s common stock and the exercise price per share option and purchase price per restricted shares decreased proportionately by the same conversion ratio. See additional discussion on the retroactive application of recapitalization in Note 2 of the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements in Part II, Item 8 of the Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Stock Options

All employees are eligible to be granted options to purchase shares of the Company’s common stock under the Company’s equity plans. All options granted will expire ten years from their date of issuance. Stock options granted generally vest 25% on the one-year anniversary of the date when vesting starts with the remaining balance vesting equally on a monthly basis over the subsequent three years. New shares are issued from authorized shares of common stock upon the exercise of stock options.

Under the Legacy Canoo 2018 Equity Plan, employees may exercise stock options prior to vesting. The Company has the right to repurchase any unvested (but issued) shares upon termination of service of an employee at the original exercise price. The consideration received for the early exercise of an option is considered to be a deposit and the related amount is recorded as a liability.

Restricted stock awards (“RSAs”)

The Company’s RSAs consist of restricted shares and restricted stock units. From November 4, 2018 to May 6, 2019, the Legacy Canoo sold restricted shares to the founders, which include certain investors, for a converted purchase price of $0.008 per share (the “Founder Restricted Shares”), with the following vesting conditions: 12.5% vest when the Legacy Canoo achieves $100 million in cumulative funding from inception (which condition was satisfied December 18, 2018, accordingly this portion of the 2019 awards was vested upon issuance); 37.5% vest ratably over a period of thirty-six months from December 18, 2018; and 50% vest on the date the Company starts commercial production of its first vehicle (“SOP”), which the Company determined was not probable of being met as of December 31, 2020.

On December 18, 2020, Legacy Canoo approved an amendment to change the SOP vesting goal of all eligible Founder Restricted Shares held by internal executives to time-based vesting with a merger trigger, which was satisfied on December 21, 2020. The investor-held Founder Restricted Shares’ SOP vesting goal was not amended. The amended time-based vesting of the SOP portion has a cliff vesting of 25% on March 18, 2020 with the remaining shares vesting over 36 months thereafter. The amendment was accounted for as a grant modification in December 2020.

The Company has an irrevocable, exclusive option to repurchase all or any portion of the unvested Founder Restricted Shares at the converted original per share purchase price for the shares upon termination or the cessation of services provided by the stockholder.

Each RSU represents a contingent right to receive one share of the Company’s common stock. During the three-months ended March 31, 2021, 2,108,985 RSUs were granted, of which 998,994 vest immediately and the remaining 1,109,991 were subject to time-based vesting.

The following table summarizes the Company’s stock-based compensation expense by line item for the three-months ended periods presented in the condensed consolidated statements of operations (in millions):

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The Company’s total unrecognized compensation cost as of March 31, 2021 was $73.4 million.