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The goal may not be to maximize return.

For instance, if I could stop working tomorrow, and maintain my current lifestyle, I would take that over promises of more cash later. I might do this even if the payout were not enough for me to fully retire on.

As long as I can take an ~5 yr sabbatical with no strings attached, I'm confident I can create enough things to keep the money coming in, on my own terms.

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But why would facebook encourage that? Unless they are really trying to cut down on payroll by incentivizing people to cash out early and leave.

If employee Smith can get a payout of $1m now versus keeping a chance of getting $5m a couple of years from now, he might pick the $1m and leave. Facebook can probably hire someone else at the same salary and give them far fewer options because Facebook is seen as a far safer bet now than when Smith joined. The result is that the rest of Facebooks shareholders potentially win a lot of money.

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