I think what you're saying is that if a company were sold for $40m, employee #1 wouldn't get enough to buy such a house. That would depend on how much stock he

I think what you're saying is that if a company were sold for $40m, employee #1 wouldn't get enough to buy such a house. That would depend on how much stock he or she got and how much he or she was diluted by later investments. The cases I've seen fall on both sides of the line, but there are plenty above it. But also, we're not talking about 42 companies with valuations of $40m. $40m is the lower bound.