A stock option is a lottery ticket (some are better odds than others). Notice how the wall street guys that deal with probabilities in financial instruments all day long in a professional capacity expect bonuses in cash.

I think at the big tech companies, it's comparable to cash but favored even more so because (if you hold them for a year) you can take capital gains (15-20%) on them instead of paying 40%+ tax. I don't think s73ver wasn't talking about startups that are pre-IPO.

I think this only applies at companies not using RSUs. Since I think you get taxed immediately (no capital gains) with RSUs.

No when you receive the RSU unit or exercise your option, it's taxed as income. Whatever gains you make after that event is taxed as capital gains, like any other stock.

A lot of that may be deferred, depends on the firm.

I knew a guy at a fund who told me he hated the place, but he was locked in for the next 5 years due to several million being deferred. No motivation at all, the guy sounded very jaded.