The scale of valuations described in the first part don't apply to Facebook and Google and in the case of Google, neither does the class of investors.
That's not to say Google is or isn't overvalued, but there are plenty of scenarios in which Google's recent action make good business sense, particularly when competing with a company on the scale of Facebook potentially using the Microsoft model of IPO timing (12,000 millionaires) to attract talent.
The only connection implied between the trend of increased valuations for startups and the grant of restricted options to an engineer at Google is that they are both signs of change.
In the case of the Google stock options, it appears that the real change is in the way the press operates. Key employees have always received counter offers.
That's not to say Google is or isn't overvalued, but there are plenty of scenarios in which Google's recent action make good business sense, particularly when competing with a company on the scale of Facebook potentially using the Microsoft model of IPO timing (12,000 millionaires) to attract talent.
The only connection implied between the trend of increased valuations for startups and the grant of restricted options to an engineer at Google is that they are both signs of change.
In the case of the Google stock options, it appears that the real change is in the way the press operates. Key employees have always received counter offers.