Microsoft'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.

Microsoft'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.