Getting (a) stock worth $800mm and (b) investing some lesser fraction many years ago that winds up being worth $800mm are very, very different different.
> those stock awards sound less attractive as they should be options at a very high valuation?
They are. (Well, sort of. Robinhood grants RSUs that vest depending on the stock price, with only 20% of the pre-IPO grants vesting at the current price and 0% of the post-IPO grants vesting until the stock price at least triples within the next 8 years [1].)
Getting (a) $800mm in cash versus (b) an option theoretically worth $800mm but which must be held to expiration are very, very different.
[1] https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001783879/000162828... page 226, Narrative Description of Executive Compensation Arrangements