&gt; Why couldn&#x27;t they simply do a split, in which case the original employee&#x27;s share would be diluted, but they&#x27;d be given more.<p>A split has no effect on the total value or proportion of the company owned versus not having the split, it just changes the &quot;size&quot; of the units you are counting stock in. So the original employee would be in the exact same position with a split as they would be without a split.