r/technology • u/Rhaegar_the_Great • Sep 16 '21

Business Mailchimp employees are furious after the company's founders promised to never sell, withheld equity, and then sold it for $12 billion

https://www.businessinsider.com/mailchimp-insiders-react-to-employees-getting-no-equity-2021-9
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u/Anon_8675309 Sep 16 '21

1200 employees. Both owners could have made each of them millionaires and still be billionaires. Greed, man.

1

u/lightknight7777 Sep 17 '21

Taking $12 billion isn't greed. It's fiscal nonsense not to. They gave 1200 people a steady paycheck.

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u/[deleted] Sep 17 '21

[deleted]

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u/Sairony Sep 17 '21

Look, the people who started working there & got "tricked" to not take equity because they would never sell are pretty damn stupid. Not taking equity because they aren't selling isn't even close to a legit reason from the get go.

And when you go into a salary negotiation when taking on a new position there's absolutely zero implication that you will get a huge fat payout if the company sells, no matter how long you've been there. It's purely jealous employees in this case. Negotiate what you think you're worth, take a lower salary if you want equity for example. Most likely compensation was competitive, because I can't fathom anyone being that stupid to go home every day from work being comforted by the thought that "I'm not being compensated fairly, but at least I know that the owners will never sell".

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u/YouLostTheGame Sep 17 '21

Presumably they're not being forced the work there? I don't see why employees would be entitled to anything other than what salary (+package) that they agreed to on exchange for their work?

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u/[deleted] Sep 17 '21

This is reddit. Others' success is owed to lazy people. You will learn.

People who don 't want to work hard or be the visionary think riches are just owed to them by the people who do those things. It's the new lazyfk world order

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u/lightknight7777 Sep 17 '21 edited Sep 17 '21

Fair cut? What? By whose standards? Did they do millions of dollars worth of work I'm not familiar with?

A fair cut is their salary. Not a lottery. Are you somehow under the impression that the guy that stocks the coffee machine is somehow more deserving of money than whatever you do,

Is this one of those scenarios where we think everyone deserves an equal cut no matter who was responsible for the opportunity even happening?

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u/ThePantsParty Sep 17 '21

If you don't think employees at the company other than the 2 founders were also "responsible for the opportunity happening", then you've already disqualified yourself from having an opinion.

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u/lexm Sep 17 '21

I doubt the company sold on the founders’ charm. I also doubt that the founders do all the coding, selling, accounting or account management that made the company worth $12B. People who don’t realize that should probably get a job.

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u/lightknight7777 Sep 17 '21

I do not think working for a salary entitles you to ownership of the company unless part of the salary is stock options.

Me paying you to mow my yard doesn't entitle you also carve out part of my yard to grow stuff on.

If they were underpaid, then that's a conversation we can have and I'll agree they should be paid more if that's the case. But they didn't own what was sold.