"Silicon Valley Pre and Post-IPO companies used stock options almost exclusively until the last six or seven years.... LinkedIn was an early and enthusiastic member of the companies who moved to RSUs.... If LinkedIn had used exclusively stock options over the past 3 years, most of those options would have little or no readily ascertainable value in the Microsoft transaction. This would have been demotivational for LinkedIn staff and executives. It would have also been costly to Microsoft[.]"  MORE >>