4 ms·
I seem to recall that Microsoft minted millionares as well in the '90s. Did they have an outflow of the rich too? (I don't know).
by pnathan 14y ago
I seem to recall that Microsoft minted millionares as well in the '90s. Did they have an outflow of the rich too? (I don't know).
- mikeryan 14y agoI think there's always a risk of an outflow of people once their stock options hit. That being said, the article actually makes the point that for two of these departures they may be leaving not because of hitting it in the SV lottery but because they're not going to see a payout because their options were priced in at an overly high valuation. Facebook may get hit from both ends, those who have been there 3-4 years ago may be cashing out, those that joined in the last 1-2 years may be leaving because they won't see any return on their options.
- drumdance 14y agoMicrosoft's market cap grew slowly compared to Facebook, so even if you joined the company 5 years after the IPO there was still a lot of headroom in the stock. But once it hit $200 billion (or whatever they top end was), potential new hires started wondering what the upside was. It's not likely to become a trillion dollar company, so you're looking at a max multiple of 4-5. But back when it was at $20 billion it was a little easier to drink the koolaid and imagine a higher multiple.