As for 1) I literally meant pre-IPO. Companies that are not publicly traded. Even very very large ones(e.g. Uber) tend to issue options instead of RSUs. When you get hired, the value of those options is a big 0 - that's where they set the strike price. You can't really compare options to RSUs. You can't assume the stock will go up 50% in value or anything in particular. So they are hard to value as anything other than 0 (I'd love to hear other ways you think about it)

Transparency is good. I'm not exactly against this information. I mostly wish it were available in a way that applies to the rest of us.

Also, I wish it didn't make me feel bad. Call it mindset but salary discussions tend to.