Google and Facebook are known for having competitive compensation in the market. You might not know that Airbnb’s pay is quite competitive as well. Today I’d like to provide you a comparison of a Facebook job offer and an Airbnb job offer. This case study is based on proprietary data I have collected. I have changed the numbers slightly to protect confidentiality, but the data are consistent with multiple offers I have seen.
Facebook offer details:
- Job level: E4. Entry level (recent graduates) at Facebook is E3. E4 is the one level after E3.
- Base salary: $160,000
- Sign-on bonus: $50,000
- Restricted Stock Units: $300,000 worth of stock vested over 4 years
Airbnb offer details:
- Job level: L4 (comparable to E4 at Facebook)
- Base salary: $170,000
- Sign-on bonus: $15,000
- Restricted Stock Units: $470,000 worth of stock vested over 4 years
The table below compares the two offers:
Key takeaways:
- On paper, Airbnb’s total compensation for 4 years is $175,000 higher than Facebook! That’s almost 18% higher!
- However, Airbnb’s stock is private company stock. It’s rumored to have an IPO later this year. But just yesterday, Airbnb co founder Nathan Blecharczyk has cast doubt on the possibility of share sale in 2019.
- The total cash based compensation (base + sign-on) are almost identical between the two companies.
- So, financially, this boils down 1) will Facebook share price goes up more and make the stock grants worth more money or 2) will Airbnb have a big IPO and the shares will shoot up (not go down) after the IPO.
Are you interested in joining Facebook or Airbnb? Or you have Facebook or Airbnb interviews scheduled in the next few weeks? I have been offering 1-on-1 interviewing coaching since 2008. Email me (andrew@nailyourjobinterview.com to set up FREE 15-minutes initial consultation.) Or you can sign up via my coaching page.