4 ms·

It's not like Zynga will have another IPO in the future, or will need to promise future employees equity. Precisely why "trust" should never be a part of an eq

It's not like Zynga will have another IPO in the future, or will need to promise future employees equity. Precisely why "trust" should never be a part of an equity negotiation. When millions are on the table people will do whatever they can get away with. Zynga doesn't want another "google chef", but they took full advantage of the "google chef" when promising equity to early employees.

pavel_lishin 15y ago
> It's not like Zynga will have another IPO in the future, or will need to promise future employees equity. No, but they probably will be promising employees something - and now, everyone knows that unless that promise is in writing, in an iron-clad contract peered over by Hell's best lawyers, it's worthless at best.
fab13n 15y ago
Indeed, they will only have one IPO. But the PR backlash can seriously affect it, if it's made clear to everyone that the execs are crooks, and that they'll never be able to hire talents again.
- ChuckMcM 15y ago
  The poster child here is Groupon (GRPN) and while the poor choices of their executives did negatively affect the IPO they are still (11/9) trading above their IPO price of $20 ($24.50 when I glanced).
  - fab13n 15y ago
    I don't think that Groupon execs are widely perceived as crooks, whereas Zynga's ones are more than hard to defend here. Moreover, Zynga execs' move was likely intended to increase the total worth of their shares; if they manage to claw 20% more shares, but destroy 30% of each share's value, they've hurt themselves even in the short term (figures made up for illustration, obviously).
    - sabat 15y ago
      I don't think that Groupon execs are widely perceived as crooks, whereas Zynga's ones are more than hard to defend here. Actually, Groupon's execs are widely perceived as crooks.
      - Kavan 15y ago
        From my perspective, and I think it is inline with consensus, Andrew Mason is quirky and different, but is not a crook. He handled the Japanese new year issues pretty well last year. http://techcrunch.com/2011/01/17/groupon-ceo-andrew-mason-sorry-for-osechi-snafu-we-really-messed-up/ http://techcrunch.com/2011/01/17/groupon-ceo-andrew-mason-so... Their sales teams are apparently very aggressive but that doesn't make them crooks.
  - onemoreact 15y ago
    There market cap is still well below what their first IPO was going to be set at.
  - vikas5678 15y ago
    While GRPN IPOed at $20, it opened for trading to the public at $30 and its dropped daily ever since.
tomkarlo 15y ago
Even if they never give out another share of equity, hiring always involves promises about the future - compensation, bonuses, security, opportunity for advancement - that can't be written into the contract. I'd have to think the discount rate for those promises just jumped significantly.
joshAg 15y ago
Sure, there's only one IPO. But what about things like vacation time, bonuses, raises, and promotions? As someone else said, unless I've got it written down in a contract that (at least) a couple lawyers have told me is basically unbreakable, I'm going to be worrying about them deciding that I don't deserve what we've previously agreed to just to save/hoard some money.
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]

pavel_lishin 15y ago

> It's not like Zynga will have another IPO in the future, or will need to promise future employees equity. No, but they probably will be promising employees something - and now, everyone knows that unless that promise is in writing, in an iron-clad contract peered over by Hell's best lawyers, it's worthless at best.

fab13n 15y ago

Indeed, they will only have one IPO. But the PR backlash can seriously affect it, if it's made clear to everyone that the execs are crooks, and that they'll never be able to hire talents again.

ChuckMcM 15y ago
The poster child here is Groupon (GRPN) and while the poor choices of their executives did negatively affect the IPO they are still (11/9) trading above their IPO price of $20 ($24.50 when I glanced).
- fab13n 15y ago
  I don't think that Groupon execs are widely perceived as crooks, whereas Zynga's ones are more than hard to defend here. Moreover, Zynga execs' move was likely intended to increase the total worth of their shares; if they manage to claw 20% more shares, but destroy 30% of each share's value, they've hurt themselves even in the short term (figures made up for illustration, obviously).
  - sabat 15y ago
    I don't think that Groupon execs are widely perceived as crooks, whereas Zynga's ones are more than hard to defend here. Actually, Groupon's execs are widely perceived as crooks.
    - Kavan 15y ago
      From my perspective, and I think it is inline with consensus, Andrew Mason is quirky and different, but is not a crook. He handled the Japanese new year issues pretty well last year. http://techcrunch.com/2011/01/17/groupon-ceo-andrew-mason-sorry-for-osechi-snafu-we-really-messed-up/ http://techcrunch.com/2011/01/17/groupon-ceo-andrew-mason-so... Their sales teams are apparently very aggressive but that doesn't make them crooks.
- onemoreact 15y ago
  There market cap is still well below what their first IPO was going to be set at.
- vikas5678 15y ago
  While GRPN IPOed at $20, it opened for trading to the public at $30 and its dropped daily ever since.

tomkarlo 15y ago

Even if they never give out another share of equity, hiring always involves promises about the future - compensation, bonuses, security, opportunity for advancement - that can't be written into the contract. I'd have to think the discount rate for those promises just jumped significantly.

joshAg 15y ago

Sure, there's only one IPO. But what about things like vacation time, bonuses, raises, and promotions? As someone else said, unless I've got it written down in a contract that (at least) a couple lawyers have told me is basically unbreakable, I'm going to be worrying about them deciding that I don't deserve what we've previously agreed to just to save/hoard some money.

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]