That's a false statement. Amazon plans your 4 years compensation when you join with the idea that you are paid pretty equally every year. The difference is that

That's a false statement. Amazon plans your 4 years compensation when you join with the idea that you are paid pretty equally every year. The difference is that in year 1 & 2 TC is mostly cash while in year 3 & 4 a big component of the TC is RSUs which replace the cash bonuses from year 1 & 2 (it's called bonus but it's paid regularly and not in large sums; I think they do it to keep the base salary low). The reason whey TC is often higher in year 3 & 4 is stock appreciation, but that's not guaranteed. If the stock goes up 10% every year you wouldn't see much difference. You can think about it this way. When you join, Amazon takes part of the money they need to pay you in year 3 & 4 and buy with it Amazon stock which you can sell only in year 3 & 4. (one difference is that you pay income tax on it when you receive it and not capital gain tax)