Amazon Lets Employees Swap Stock Grants for Cash

Amazon is giving its mid- and lower-level corporate employees a chance to decide how much they want to tie their future pay to the company’s stock performance.

In May, Amazon will give many U.S. corporate employees the option of reducing the amount of stock they receive next year by a quarter in exchange for more cash, according to an internal memo reviewed by The Information. In doing so, Amazon joins a growing list of tech companies, including Tesla and Shopify, that are putting less emphasis on equity compensation as a way to motivate workers. That represents a sea change in how tech companies pay their workers.