Blue Origin’s new employee stock options are better, though still inferior to SpaceX’s
Because its old stock options were essentially worthless and a scam that did nothing to retain good employees, Blue Origin is now offering its employees a new stock option plan that while significantly improved, is still apparently inferior to SpaceX’s.
Under the old plan, the options only became real if Blue Origin went public within ten years. As the company never had plans to do so, those options were rubbish. The new plan changes this, but carries other restrictions.
Blue Origin’s new stock options plan, adopted in May, offers more opportunities for employees to cash out, including certain external funding rounds. In addition, it includes several restrictions on how employees can cash in their equity.
Jeff Bezos, apparently still treating employees like serfsUnder the agreement, Blue Origin employees would never actually own any of the company’s stock. Instead, once their options have vested and are exercised to buy shares during a “liquidity event”— either an IPO, a sale of the company, or certain external funding rounds — those shares are “immediately and mandatorily” repurchased by Blue Origin. Employees get paid for their options at a “fair market value,” which, if Blue Origin hasn’t gone public, is determined by the company.
Most importantly, the plan has one major caveat: If an employee leaves Blue Origin and takes a job elsewhere in the space industry, they will forfeit their options entirely.
The change is certainly an improvement, but it does suggest Blue Origin (and Jeff Bezos) is still unwilling to treat its workers with the same kind of respect as SpaceX, which includes no such rules.
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Wow. I guess you can make stock options do anything now.