On March 12, 2019, the Company’s Board of Directors authorized the repurchase of up to $25.0 million additional shares of common stock, which replaced the prior share repurchase program authorized in November 2018. Share repurchases may be made from time to time in open market transactions, block trades or in private transactions in accordance with applicable securities laws and regulations and other legal requirements, including compliance with the Company’s finance agreements. There is no minimum number of shares that the Company is required to repurchase and the repurchase program may be suspended or discontinued at any time without prior notice. As of September 30, 2019, the Company has not repurchased any shares under the March 12, 2019 authorization.

	Stock Options
				Weighted-
				Average
	Shares			Exercise Price
Outstanding at January 1, 2019		3,424,755		$	11.49
Granted		—		$	—
Exercised		(90,890	)	$	9.10
Cancelled		(21,875	)	$	11.41
Outstanding at September 30, 2019		3,311,990		$	11.56
Exercisable at September 30, 2019		2,793,348		$	11.32

Share-based compensation expense related to stock options was $0.8 million and $1.1 million for the three months ended September 30, 2019 and 2018, respectively, and $4.2 million and $4.0 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2019 and 2018, respectively. The Company’s unrecognized share-based compensation expense related to stock options was approximately $2.8 million as of September 30, 2019, which is expected to be recognized over a weighted-average period of 1.2 years.

The following table summarizes the Company’s activity related to time-based restricted stock units (“RSUs”) and performance-based restricted stock units (“PSUs”):

	RSUs					PSUs
				Weighted-				Weighted-
				Average Grant				Average Grant
	Shares			Date Fair Value		Shares⁽¹⁾		Date Fair Value
Outstanding at January 1, 2019		232,299		$	29.10		171,748	$	28.41
Granted		561,606		$	13.94		204,580	$	14.13
Vested		(102,218	)	$	29.59		—	$	—
Cancelled		(20,899	)	$	22.69		—	$	—
Outstanding at September 30, 2019		670,788		$	16.53		376,328	$	20.65

__________________

(1)

The number of shares for 62,791 of the PSUs listed as outstanding at January 1, 2019 represents the actual number of PSUs granted to each recipient eligible to vest if the Company meets its performance goals for the applicable period. The number of shares for the remainder of the PSUs listed as outstanding at January 1, 2019 and for all of the PSUs granted in 2019 represents the “target” number of PSUs granted to each recipient eligible to vest if the Company meets its “target” performance goals for the applicable period. The actual number of PSUs eligible to vest for those PSUs will vary depending on whether or not the Company meets or exceeds the applicable threshold, target or maximum performance goals for the PSUs, with 200% of the “target” number of PSUs eligible to vest at “maximum” performance levels.

Share-based compensation expense related to RSUs was $1.1 million for both the three months ended September 30, 2019 and 2018, and $3.1 million and $2.3 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2019 and 2018, respectively. Share-based compensation expense related to PSUs was $0.7 million and $0.3 million for the three months ended September 30, 2019 and 2018, respectively, and $1.4 million and $0.8 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2019 and 2018, respectively.

As of September 30, 2019, there was $7.6 million and $4.1 million of unamortized share-based compensation expense related to RSUs and PSUs, respectively, which is expected to be recognized over a weighted-average period of 2.6 years and 2.2 years for RSUs and PSUs, respectively.

As of September 30, 2019, a total of 1,267,201 shares of the Company’s common stock remained available for grants of awards under the Golden Entertainment, Inc. 2015 Incentive Award Plan (the “2015 Plan”), which includes the annual increase in the number of shares available for grant on January 1, 2019 of 1,119,924 shares.