It's pretty simple. He valued those friendships. Human nature dictates that they would be pissed off about him not sharing the wealth that they had a hand in cr

It's pretty simple. He valued those friendships. Human nature dictates that they would be pissed off about him not sharing the wealth that they had a hand in creating (regardless of whether they started before or after Minecraft was successful). He could have easily given each employee $5 MM. It would have cost him about $250 MM. What is that compared to $2500 MM? 10% of a vast fortune he could never spend. Would his former employees still resent him? Or would they be grateful to him that he made it possible for them to start their own businesses, retire (with some smart investing), live lavishly and stay employed, whatever? Maybe he wasn't obligated to give them a small fortune, but was that the right decision for him, personally, to make? It doesn't sound like it.