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Zynga to employees: Give back our stock or you'll be fired

news.cnet.com

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Re: Zynga to employees: Give back our stock or you'll be fired

#41

Post by cheald »

This is really, really sleazy.

The bottom line here is "You don't get to be a part of the IPO windfall." Given that the employees that are getting stung like this have accepted the risk of working at a startup, and likely have accepted lower salaries in exchange for the promise of stock options, this is morally equivalent to theft of services.

Stock as a compensation structure only works when people use it in good faith. Scummy moves like this are only going to make it harder for startups to attract talent unless they can pay full market rate right out of the gate.

Re: Zynga to employees: Give back our stock or you'll be fired

#42

Post by darrellsilver »

prostoalex wrote: post #21

Important to note this applies only to unvested stock. I'm not defending the move, but in reality the company could terminate the employees (at-will employment in California), which would terminate their further vesting anyways. This is not the clawback scenario that Silver Lake executed with Skype.

That it's the unvested portion definitely makes a difference... But to be ethical you really can't just take unvested shares from employees because they have "too much", which is how the WSJ tells the story.

Sounds like Pincus gave performance-based pay with a pretty transparent system, which should have worked well. Employees must know how management sees their performance, otherwise you're destined to have a bad breakup.

If the story is accurate (hopefully it's not as who'd want to ever work at Zynga after this?) then the lack of stock for new hires was a management issue, and should be resolved from management, the investors and the board's pockets. After all, each investor saw the cap table before putting money in.

Re: Zynga to employees: Give back our stock or you'll be fired

#44

Post by SandB0x »

saalweachter wrote: post #15

I wonder if any early Google employees begrudge Charlie (he's the "early Google chef", right?) his millions. An army travels on its stomach. Google's chefs helped make Google the company it is today. Why is it so wrong that they be rewarded?

Or the massage therapist, Bonnie Brown. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/12/technology/12google.html?p...

Re: Zynga to employees: Give back our stock or you'll be fired

#45

Post by winter_blue »

api wrote: post #12
cageface wrote: post #9

Is it just me or is tech particularly sleazy right now?

Very. It's bad. I kind of got out of startups for that reason. I just couldn't take working with sociopaths anymore. I have some stories. Serious f'ing stories. And no, I'm not just "player hating." A lot of it didn't even involve me. I just couldn't take working in proximity to such sleaze. Tech's had this reputation as a place where fortunes can be made. That's going to attract a lot of ambitious and creative peopl…

Would you be interested in putting your e-mail on your profile, or writing more about this. I would like to hear more on it.

Re: Zynga to employees: Give back our stock or you'll be fired

#46

Post by sinope »

pavel_lishin wrote: post #29
api wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very. It's bad. I kind of got out of startups for that reason. I just couldn't take working with sociopaths anymore. I have some stories. Serious f'ing stories. And no, I'm not just "player hating." A lot of it didn't even involve me. I just couldn't take working in proximity to such sleaze. Tech's had this reputation as a place where fortunes can be made. That's going to attract a lot of ambitious and creative peopl…

Would you be willing to do an anonymous AMA, or write up some of your experiences?

I can confirm that sociopaths are like this, and that they are a large part of why I won't be a part of the startup industry anymore very soon.

Re: Zynga to employees: Give back our stock or you'll be fired

#47

Post by jccodez »

cageface wrote: post #9

Is it just me or is tech particularly sleazy right now?

Nothing new here: "Later, in 1982 when Allen had been diagnosed with cancer, Allen is reported to have said he overhead Gates and current chief executive Steve Ballmer discussing Allen's lack of recent contributions to the young company, and talking about how to dilute Allen's stock allocation."

Re: Zynga to employees: Give back our stock or you'll be fired

#48

Post by quattrofan »

Seriosly do these execs realise what a bunch of utter douchebags they look like? I guess they don't care. Personally though I would think twice about going to work for them, whatever they offer apparently is worthless because they can change their mind and take it back off you again later.

Re: Zynga to employees: Give back our stock or you'll be fired

#49

Post by davorak »

tghw wrote: post #20
typicalrunt wrote: post #2

Company stock is basically ownership, and there's a dollar value attached to it. So is does Zynga's request run into the practice of extortion? It's another way of saying, give us your money or else something bad will happen.

Not quite, since it's unvested shares they're taking back. The company has promised to give those shares to the employees when they hit certain tenure milestones, but the company still owns them in the meantime. If they fire the employee, the company keeps those shares.

The fact that it is unvested shares changes little. The employees where lead to believe that if they meant a certain milestones they would receive stock. Now the milestones have been changed. The employees must now also meet new criteria for productivity to receive stock. They signed up for one deal and are now being served another.
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