It's obviously impossible to say anything universal here, but in my experience, you could restate that statement as "Some companies haven't had to do this sort

It's obviously impossible to say anything universal here, but in my experience, you could restate that statement as "Some companies haven't had to do this sort of thing yet". When the viability of the company is at stake, or orders are coming from the board, no company is going to make a significant sacrifice to stay true to their word if there's no legal consequences for breaking it. Edit: to be clear, I don't mean things like knowingly lying beforehand, but if circumstances drastically changed, I would 100% expect companies to rescind outstanding offers, so I similarly wouldn't hold it against a candidate for rescinding their acceptance if their circumstances changed significantly. It's reasonable to expect both companies and candidates to act in good faith, but it's unreasonable for them to face significant hardship just to honour an offer if their situation changes.