I disagree with anyone saying that RSU's are ideal way to get employees invested in a company's success. In practice, total compensation for an employee is decided by market value of that employee. If RSUs shoot up, you will get lesser base pay, if they go down you will end up getting higher base pay in next appraisal cycle. Your salary might be inflated or underflated (for lack of a better word) for a while but in long term the company will balance it out with market standards.
If you think of RSUs as an investment, then its a different game. However, it is no different than owning stock on NASDAQ. You can get rich if you buy the right stock.
Hence, my perspective. All cash better than RSU. If you wanna buy stocks then just buy from stock exchange of whichever company you want.
Caveat: For startups where you get equity this argument doesn't hold true. There the startup might end up a unicorn and you make ton of money.
The problem being I can't think of a single company that offers an all cash deal even close to the FAANG offers (or pre-ipo offers in one of the unicorns).
Even a bunch of giant companies like HBO/Samsung etc. got priced out for the same reason at least in a few cases I know.
If you think of RSUs as an investment, then its a different game. However, it is no different than owning stock on NASDAQ. You can get rich if you buy the right stock.
Hence, my perspective. All cash better than RSU. If you wanna buy stocks then just buy from stock exchange of whichever company you want.
Caveat: For startups where you get equity this argument doesn't hold true. There the startup might end up a unicorn and you make ton of money.