You have my respect, Shay Pierce.
Exactly. The headline is wildly misleading - he didn't opt out of the buy-out, his small equity stake was bought. The value of the buy-out is irrelevant, and it's unlikely that the offer he got was off-the-charts above what he could get somewhere else - He said it was a standard offer, so most likely it was what he made before + n%.
It came across as very professional to me.
The argument given was also understandable and deserving of my respect.
Surely there were other developers who had "side projects" they really loved who happily went with Zynga. I really have to question why this guy was the _only_ one who didn't jump ship. Sure you can write a post claiming to be the white knight and not another corporate zombie like the rest, but that's very rarely the case.
I see this as a power play. Instead of being a "Zynga acquisition", I think he saw it as much more beneficial to be the David vs. Goliath. Good for him, I guess.
So he's simultaneously got a reminder that his own work is important to him, a bit of breathing room from his chunk of the buyout and an opportunity to start off with a bit of a "bang" PR-wise.
What entrepreneur would pass up on that?
He seems to be pretty clear that he heavily debated the idea with himself and ultimately realized that his long term beef with the way he understands Zynga to operate doesn't work for him. The rejection of his addendum seemed like it was just icing on the cake. He deserves the praise he's getting for being honest with himself and the reader, not accused of making a "power play" just because you, or anyone else, can't rationalize the decision any other way. This is the kind of reaction that keeps us from having nice things.