As with others, the morality of this situation depends on details we don't know. What always trips me out is the double standards in posts like yours. People are fine with the capitalist notion of starting a business, giving most people in it almost nothing, often collecting any I.P. produced rather than a license, and having goal of selling out in a way that will likely cost the employees their jobs. Almost all value goes to investors or a few founders while almost all work is done by employees. The process is often supported by false promises or emotional manipulation to keep workers loyal & with a tiny part of the pie. This is default in Silicon Valley from what I read here and in other media.

Then, an employee decides to do what's best for him or her in a way that negatively impacts the founding business person or investor. This is seen as unethical: such employees, upon some agreement or context, cannot possess the ability to make other choices that damage founder or VC goals. They don't possess the trait that founders and investors wield with nary a thought over employees like we're starting to see with more layoffs. The employees are, instead of rationally selfish, being Evil and called out for it.

A double standard that serves captains of industry and startup founders very well at everyone else's expense. In reality, capitalism says that everyone, including employees, should act in their own self interest externalizing all costs of such actions. So, per capitalism, the founder did the right thing by trying to screw the employee out of lots of net worth and the employee did the right thing screwing the founder by taking another path. Naturally, being utilitarian, I oppose such capitalism in favor of stakeholder-focused models with rules reducing opportunities for each party to screw the other. The market goes the other way, though, so everyone continues to help or screw everyone to heart's content.

And I get to read nonsense like this where people cry "But that's not right and fair!" while simultaneously...

"Business guys are typically going to make more money than the coders are, it's pointless to fight this. The better route is to go into business yourself and capture the value yourself. "

...supporting amoral, selfish practices of capitalists on founder or VC side. It's just also what the developers were following: do whatever provides most perceived value for themselves. It is really good advice, though. Keep preaching it while system works as it does given that's where money is at. It's just that making an exception for one party but not others seems unfair and irrational. Thanks for the entertainment though. :)