I don't know when their fiscal year ends, but having a drop right before review time means that when annual grant time comes around you're getting them at a low

I don't know when their fiscal year ends, but having a drop right before review time means that when annual grant time comes around you're getting them at a lower price. Of course if the market is only going to go down-down-down then this is precious little consolation. Google moved into our area a couple years ago. When that happened the buzz in the tech job market was full of "I could go apply at Google". I remember, even at that point, having the feeling that the stock grants would probably be small and the potential for a stock price slide was really high. I would say with most tech companies if your employee number is less than 50 AND you have a high ranking position (manager plus) you might have a chance of having stock with a significant upside. Otherwise you're better off just getting the cash up front, in salary. Obviously Google was quite a bit larger and more successful, but post-IPO grants in technology are generally a joke.