Posted by Brian McCullough
Did you hear the one about the in-house Masseuse at Google who is now cashing out her stock options and claiming a multi-million dollar windfall? Ahhh… reminds me of the late 90s all over again.
My favorite part is how she now has her own masseuse to give her weekly massages. Oh, and a 3,000 square foot house. And a charitable foundation.
The truth about these kind of stories
is that they’re very rare. It’s not every day that a company goes from a cool computer science research project to one of the top ten most valuable companies based on market cap in under 10 years. When you hitch a ride on a gravy train like that, even the janitors get real paid:
Nearly half of the 16,000 employees now at Google have been there for a year or less, and their options have an average exercise price of more than $500. But those who started at the company a year ago, or even three months ago, are seeing their options soar in value.
Google’s stock just touched $700, so a strike price of $500 is still decent.
I mean, on the one hand, we all react to stories like this with the fantasy: maybe someday someone will notice my true value, and even though I’m a lowly secretary, I’ll be a millionaire too. But in reality, this is just another lottery winner’s story. It just makes us jealous, and a little sad. I mean, look around your office right now. It’s not quite Google, is it?* Keep plugging away. As long as you’re maxing out a healthy 401k, you’re gonna be just fine.
*(Unless it is Google, in which case, congrats)
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