If it was 50% higher when they were hired, they still probably made less. All FAANG stocks climbed 100+% over the same timeframe. Amazon, 500%. [Edit] But... I

If it was 50% higher when they were hired, they still probably made less. All FAANG stocks climbed 100+% over the same timeframe. Amazon, 500%. [Edit] But... I think you might have missed the point. The reason to join a pre-IPO company is to make far more money post-IPO when the stock rises. Joining Facebook in 2008 or Google in 2000 would be equivalents here, and those people became very, very wealthy on the day of the IPO due to this pop vs when they joined. Uber employees who joined 4 years before IPO had their stock drop instead.