From the same article I quoted: "What Jeff got was the same deal that Jason and I had: His share of the yearly profits."
That kind of investment opportunity that says "if you trust us buy shares in our future, but you just get to come along for the ride and get X% of profits" seems different enough from VC investing to have its own name, don't know if it already has one.
There are some alternative forms of investment vehicles, revenue sharing ones, ever-green funds, equity investment for a piece of the pie, etc.