Instagram was the biggest mobile app acquisition that had ever happened—the best equity they could have chosen. But if the Instagrammers accepted Facebook job offers, Facebook would cancel their stock options in Instagram and grant them restricted stock units in Facebook instead. Their equity vesting schedule would start over, as if they hadn’t already worked many months. Only three employees had been at Instagram long enough to have the option to buy a quarter of their Instagram shares and convert them to Facebook shares at a lower price. Everyone else would have no wealth from Instagram
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