[spiffage]

The reason tech companies rely heavily on stock-based incentives is to align the interests of the employee with the shareholder. You want the group to have a shared fate. Cold, hard cash, while attractive to people who haven't yet joined, doesn't align interests as well as stock does.

[bradleyjg]

They can always take the upthread suggestion of repricing options, or issuing RSU.

I'm really not seeing any employee downside other than some punctured dreams - and I don't see how those dreams would have been any less punctured if they had IPO'd at $10 and moved to $18.

[Evbn]

Employees would have negotiated for more shares at the $10 price.