6.	Stock Transactions and Unit Redemptions

Class A Common Stock

Changes in shares of the Company’s Class A common stock outstanding for the three months ended March 31, 2018 and 2017 were as follows:

	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2018		2017
Shares outstanding at beginning of period		256,968,372		244,869,624
Share issuances:
Issuance of Class A common stock for general corporate purposes		17,923,714		—
Exchanges of limited partnership interests¹		2,787,190		3,410,672
Compensation awards		979,344		—
Acquisition related issuances		317,096		373,078
Vesting of restricted stock units (RSUs)		280,884		356,389
Other issuances of Class A common stock		22,644		9,942
Treasury stock repurchases		—		(552,955	)
Shares outstanding at end of period		279,279,244		248,466,750

¹	Because they are included in the Company’s fully diluted share count, if dilutive, any exchange of limited partnership interests into Class A common shares would not impact the fully diluted number of shares and units outstanding.

Class B Common Stock

The Company did not issue any shares of Class B common stock during the three months ended March 31, 2018 and 2017. As of March 31, 2018 and 2017, there were 34,848,107 shares of the Company’s Class B common stock outstanding.

Controlled Equity Offering

On April 12, 2017, the Company entered into a controlled equity offering (“CEO”) sales agreement with CF&Co (“April 2017 Sales Agreement”), pursuant to which the Company may offer and sell up to an aggregate of 20 million shares of Class A common stock. Shares of the Company’s Class A common stock sold under this CEO sales agreement were used for redemptions of limited partnership interests in BGC Holdings and Newmark Holdings, as well as for general corporate purposes. CF&Co is a wholly owned subsidiary of Cantor and an affiliate of the Company. Under this agreement, the Company has agreed to pay CF&Co 2% of the gross proceeds from the sale of shares. As of March 31, 2018, the Company has sold all 20,000,000 shares of Class A common stock under the April 2017 Sales Agreement.

On March 9, 2018, the Company entered into a new CEO sales agreement with CF&Co (“March 2018 Sales Agreement”), pursuant to which the Company may offer and sell up to an aggregate of $300.0 million of shares of Class A common stock. Proceeds from shares of the Company’s Class A common stock sold under this CEO sales agreement, are used for redemptions of limited partnership interests in BGC Holdings and Newmark Holdings, as well as for general corporate purposes, including acquisitions and the repayment of debt. As of March 31, 2018, the Company has sold 2,653,971 shares of Class A common stock, (or $37.1 million), under the March 2018 Sales Agreement. For additional information, see Note 17—“Related Party Transactions.”

Unit Redemptions and Share Repurchase Program

The Company’s Board of Directors and Audit Committee have authorized repurchases of the Company’s Class A common stock and redemptions of limited partnership interests or other equity interests in the Company’s subsidiaries. On February 7, 2017, the Company’s Board of Directors and Audit Committee increased the BGC Partners share repurchase and unit redemption authorization to $300 million, which may include purchases from Cantor, its partners or employees or other affiliated persons or entities. As of March 31, 2018, the Company had approximately $172.2 million remaining from its share repurchase and unit redemption authorization. From time to time, the Company may actively continue to repurchase shares and/or redeem units. The table below represents unit redemption and share repurchase activity for the three months ended March 31, 2018:

Period	Total Number of Units Redeemed or Shares Repurchased		Average Price Paid per Unit or Share		Approximate Dollar Value of Units and Shares That May Yet Be Redeemed/ Purchased Under the Plan
Redemptions¹
January 1, 2018—March 31, 2018		1,723,654	$	14.34
Repurchases²		—	$	—
Total Redemptions and Repurchases		1,723,654	$	14.34	$	172,167,800

During the three months ended March 31, 2018, the Company redeemed approximately 1.7 million limited partnership units at an aggregate redemption price of approximately $24.6 million for an average price of $14.34 per unit and approximately 5 thousand FPUs at an aggregate redemption price of approximately $74 thousand for an average price of $13.67 per unit. During the three months ended March 31, 2017, the Company redeemed approximately 2.9 million limited partnership units at an aggregate redemption price of approximately $31.6 million for an average price of $10.85 per unit and approximately 15.7 thousand FPUs at an aggregate redemption price of approximately $0.2 million for an average price of $10.73 per unit.

The Company did not repurchase any of its Class A common stock during the three months ended March 31, 2018. During the three months ended March 31, 2017, the Company repurchased approximately 0.6 million shares of its Class A common stock at an aggregate purchase price of approximately $6.1 million for an average price of $11.07 per share.

The table above represents the gross unit redemptions during the three months ended March 31, 2018. Substantially all of the 1.7 million units above were redeemed using cash from the Company’s CEO program, and therefore did not impact the fully diluted number of shares and units outstanding.

Redeemable Partnership Interest

The changes in the carrying amount of redeemable partnership interest for the three months ended March 31, 2018 and 2017 were as follows (in thousands):

	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2018			2017
Balance at beginning of period	$	46,415		$	52,577
Consolidated net income allocated to FPUs		1,009			1,054
Earnings distributions		—			(1,434	)
FPUs exchanged		—			(303	)
FPUs redeemed		(21	)		(59	)
Other		102			(2	)
Balance at end of period	$	47,505		$	51,833