On incorporation the only shares in issue will be those subscribed by the founders of the company (the subscribers). During its life a company may wish to issue new shares for many different reasons such as to reflect a new investment in the company, to reward key employees, in association with a new director being appointed, following the creation of new or multiple share classes or the re-designation of shares from one class to another. Generally ordinary shareholders of a company have a pre-emption right in relation to the issue of new shares. This means that in most circumstances any existing ordinary shareholders must first be offered any new shares issued by a company pro-rata to their existing shareholding.