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Does anybody know what kind of deal early Microsoft employees had in terms of wealth redistribution? I am fine with founders expecting employees to give swear,
by fabiensanglard 3y ago
Does anybody know what kind of deal early Microsoft employees had in terms of wealth redistribution?
I am fine with founders expecting employees to give swear, blood, and tears if they are substantial payoffs at the end.
Not that I have ever heard of such a deal. From what I read, it is usually investor first, founders next, and employees dead last.
- Bostonian 3y agoA 1992 NYT article https://www.nytimes.com/1992/06/28/business/microsoft-s-unlikely-millionaires.html https://www.nytimes.com/1992/06/28/business/microsoft-s-unli... said "Microsoft turns cautionary at the dropping of figures, but a distinguished Wall Street research firm estimates that at least 2,200 employees at Microsoft's Redmond headquarters east of here -- nearly one in five -- are millionaires. Not even the height of the Wall Street takeover frenzy of the mid-1980's made as many instant millionaires as did simple employment at Microsoft for the last five years, analysts say. The Microsoft millionaires are unlike any in the world. Not only are many under the age of 30, the vast majority are not executives or lawyers but rather software writers with technical backgrounds."
- Macha 3y agoLook at the likes of Dave Plummer or pre-Fog Creek Joel Spolsky for real world examples. Neither were particularly early, not particularly senior, started on bottom rungs, both of their Microsoft tenures basically amounted to a solid career as a developer and both seem to have made out well from it.
- canucker2016 3y agoThe only story I've heard was that employees were allowed to buy shares of the company just before the IPO. Several employees took out loans to load up on MSFT before the IPO.