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In the past 5 years, Amazon's stock has gone up almost 6X. Anyone who got paid in RSUs almost certainly made out well. But, as Amazon points out in their statem

In the past 5 years, Amazon's stock has gone up almost 6X. Anyone who got paid in RSUs almost certainly made out well. But, as Amazon points out in their statement, past results are no guarantee for stock performance going forward. I can pay you $500 in cash or I can give you $500 worth of stock (which vests over a period of time). Generally speaking, the cash (which you get right away) should always be valued more since you can spend it as you want, including using it to purchase stock (which these days can be purchased for nominal trading fees). Furthermore, salary increases are always worth more than equivalent end-of-year cash bonuses, since you lose out on bonuses if you leave your job mid-year.

aetherson 8y ago
They'll be comparing the instantaneous value of the stock with the value of the raise. So if you previously got pay for the month of let's say $2,000 plus $400 in RSUs (the value of the RSUs at the moment they're assigned), then you might lose the RSUs but get paid $2,500 per month -- a $100/month raise. If you then feel that Amazon stock is a good investment, you can buy $400 of Amazon stock on the public market, and you'll be where you were before, plus $100 in cash.
- test6554 8y ago
  Not to mention that owning stock in the company you work for is not a very diversified portfolio. If Amazon crashed and filed for bankruptcy for some reason, you would lose both your job and your savings. That doesn't seem very likely given Amazon's size, but look at Sears.
dv_dt 8y ago
Given predictions of a economic downturn Amazon has done a lot of these workers a favor in terms of their risk profile by changing RSUs and bonuses to hard compensation.
krapp 8y ago
>Anyone who got paid in RSUs almost certainly made out well. "Well" is relative. The price of the stock may have gone up but its value is still much less than that of the income they could have had at $15/hr over the time it takes to vest. No one is really making out like a bandit on their RSUs at that level.

aetherson 8y ago

They'll be comparing the instantaneous value of the stock with the value of the raise. So if you previously got pay for the month of let's say $2,000 plus $400 in RSUs (the value of the RSUs at the moment they're assigned), then you might lose the RSUs but get paid $2,500 per month -- a $100/month raise. If you then feel that Amazon stock is a good investment, you can buy $400 of Amazon stock on the public market, and you'll be where you were before, plus $100 in cash.

test6554 8y ago
Not to mention that owning stock in the company you work for is not a very diversified portfolio. If Amazon crashed and filed for bankruptcy for some reason, you would lose both your job and your savings. That doesn't seem very likely given Amazon's size, but look at Sears.

dv_dt 8y ago

Given predictions of a economic downturn Amazon has done a lot of these workers a favor in terms of their risk profile by changing RSUs and bonuses to hard compensation.

krapp 8y ago

>Anyone who got paid in RSUs almost certainly made out well. "Well" is relative. The price of the stock may have gone up but its value is still much less than that of the income they could have had at $15/hr over the time it takes to vest. No one is really making out like a bandit on their RSUs at that level.