Was it F-you money for most employees, though? Sure, it was a 60% premium over the current stock price, in CUC stock which promptly dropped after the announcement.

So I suppose if you were sitting on 300k in equity it was now worth 480k, but it's not like going from illiquid paper wealth to a liquidity event...and given the company's growth trajectory it seemed likely at the time that it would get there in a year or two on its own, without a (risky) acquisition.

Dunno, doesn't seem like a slam-dunk case of F-you money to me.