So many reasons:
- That effectively means those employees tied to the old location have to quit or be let go. Stripe isn't a public company, so that causes major issues for those with options who suddenly need to exercise into an expensive illiquid holding. For those w/o vested options in a company as successful as Stripe, you're leaving a lot of money on the table. What are the odds you find another Stripe with options deep in the money?
- If your spouse is working in SF, if you move, now they have to quit their job and look for another one. If your spouse works in a non-public tech startup, see point 1.
- Moving isn't easy in the US if you own a home - the taxes, fees, expenses, commissions, etc alone will cost you ~8 or 9% of your sale. If you have 20% down you just lost half your equity. Easier of course if you have more equity in the home, but still -- fees/etc are a total loss to you.
- If the company re-locates you, they might cover some of the home change expenses, but those are often capped. It becomes quite expensive to the company to re-lo folks with homes (see above)
- Changing homes (and thus school districts) is a big issue for employees with children. Many school districts are not guaranteed by home ownership / lease, but rather by tenure in the district. You end up buying/leasing an expensive property in a new area and busing your child to a far off, possibly much less performant, school.
- I totally agree with SF being epensive, but for other cities, moving to suburbs isn't that much less expensive for young workers. Now you suddenly have to buy a car, pay for gas, pay tolls, registrations, etc. Also, for those early career w/o children, being in a one-company-town suburb is a career-killer. There isnt an ecosystem and it becomes harder to switch jobs. I had an employer move their office from Manhattan to suburban Connecticut with the argument that is was less expensive (yes, less expensive for the company -- but absolutely not less expensive for the employee)