Skype options turn out to be worthless
Absolutely zero surprise on my side.  VCs, and acquiring companies are always looking to maximize their return, as legally as possible during an M&A deal, even (sometimes particularly) if that means screwing over employees who are no longer with the company.<p>I actually like the honesty of this quote:<p>"Silver Lake declined to comment. When asked about Lee’s situation, Skype spokesman Brian O’Shaughnessy said, “You’ve got to be in it to win it. The company chose to include that clause in the contract in order to retain the best and the brightest people to build great products. This individual chose to leave, therefore he doesn’t get that benefit.”"<p>Most people will look at it and say "What an Asswad" - but at least he's not being a hypocrite.  That's precisely what everyone in the M&A team is _thinking_ they just aren't _saying_ it.<p>This is another take on what Oracle did when they bought Oblix (I had just left Oblix in 1999)  Oracle gave MegaBonuses to all the existing employees and executives, two of the founders, and paid absolutely nothing for the common shares.  The acquisition price was still $100Million plus, but there was only enough money to cover the preferred options + liquidation preferences in the "on the record"  purchase prices.  Effectively, they wiped out all the employees who were common shareholders, but no longer with the company (or were part of the 15-20 out of 100 who were laid off during the acquisition)  while taking care of the VCs and the acquired employees.  (As a side bonus, they called the money they gave to the acquired employees "Retention Bonuses" - which resulted in the top people having to hang around for another year)<p>Lesson to be learned: When you leave a company, and it is still private - if they are Sold, instead of going public, there are probably any number of ways that you will get wiped out if you are no longer with them - possible exception if you are a founder with a significant percentage of the company, and you might be able to raise a stink for minority shareholder rights.  Then you'll get a "consulting bonus" to shut you up.<p>This story is more common than not.