Re:The Story of Microsoft's Minecraft Buyout
by wpietri on Tuesday June 02, 2015 @02:35PM
(#9647981)
Employees are always taking risk; no company lasts forever, and even seemingly stable companies frequently get rid of people for reasons unrelated to performance.
If early employees feel like they should get equity, then they should ask for it on hire. That Mojang apparently found plenty of employees on a cash-only basis suggests that equity was unnecessary here.
There is a separate feeling, which is that in retrospect they feel like they deserve a share of the big money because there was big success. That's a reasonable feeling. But I think it's very different than having worked for a successful company, getting paid regularly, getting bought by a major tech company, and then saying, "Gosh, that was too risky!"
If early employees feel like they should get equity, then they should ask for it on hire. That Mojang apparently found plenty of employees on a cash-only basis suggests that equity was unnecessary here.
There is a separate feeling, which is that in retrospect they feel like they deserve a share of the big money because there was big success. That's a reasonable feeling. But I think it's very different than having worked for a successful company, getting paid regularly, getting bought by a major tech company, and then saying, "Gosh, that was too risky!"