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

Then I've seen no discussion of AMT anywhere. Say you have vested but exercised options but for currently illiquid stock, and that someone threatens you with dismissal. You can exercise but then owe a bunch on AMT that you might not have the resources to cover. Does that make you more likely to go along?

This makes it seem like an even more hardball move to me.

Did they really think it'd be cheaper for them to pull this shady stuff? I'm almost certain that firing the alleged under-performers, including the subsequent cost of the inevitable wrongful termination suits, would be desirable over the shit storm they chose to stir up.

If he just fired the people there would have been a big blowback like what we heard happen when Skype fired a group of employees before the Microsoft acquisition was a done deal.

Pincus is a ruthless and shrewd businessman. From the co-opted game designs of others to cutting out some employees from the IPO's rewards, he is definitely not someone who can totally be trusted. He will do what's best for him.

Skype, Groupon, and Zynga are showing a more cutthroat way of doing business in SV. The high valuations that their investors entered into these deals are demanding ways to squeeze out as much of return as possible.

Google, Apple, Microsoft, Yahoo, and the old guard were all about maximizing both investor and employee shareholder value. Now it seems its mostly about the investors and some "worthy" "chosen" few.

Be careful!

UPDATE - Come to find out that Silver Lake, the guys behind the SKYPE firing fiasco, are also investors of Zynga. Please blackball working with any of their portfolio companies http://www.silverlake.com/partners/content.php?page=team-par...

Jim Davidson Co-Founder and Co-Chief Executive Menlo Park Glenn Hutchins Co-Founder and Co-Chief Executive New York David Roux Co-Founder and Chairman Menlo Park Alan Austin Managing Director Menlo Park Mike Bingle Managing Director New York Eric Chen Managing Director Hong Kong, Shanghai Egon Durban Managing Director Menlo Park Charles Giancarlo Managing Director and Head of Value Creation Menlo Park Kenneth Hao Managing Director Menlo Park and Hong Kong Christian Lucas Managing Director London Greg Mondre Managing Director New York Joe Osnoss Managing Director London Sean Delehanty Director New York Stephen Evans Director London Tony Ling Director Menlo Park Todd Morgenfeld Director Menlo Park Simon Patterson Director London Zheng Wang Director Hong Kong Masao Yoshikawa Director Tokyo Joerg Adams Principal Menlo Park Jonathan Durham Principal London John Flynn Principal London Adam Karol Principal New York Karol Niewiadomski Principal London Jason White Principal Menlo Park Lee Wittlinger Principal Menlo Park Phillip Wood-Smith Principal New York Jason Young Principal

If you can sue. At my last job, they made me sign a binding arbitration agreement as a condition of being employed. I needed the job, so I couldn't play hardball and refuse.