You have an interesting read on this. As I see it Verb has run out of investor money and employees had to choose between layoffs during COVID-19 and high unemployment or a 20% pay cut. The employees (assuming that there are even more than one or two) that supposedly want to convert more salary to stock, might well simply be misguided believers in Rory's enthusiasm that never turns into share holder value. All the employees willing to take pay cuts in lieu of no jobs, is in no way a meaningful indicator of the future success of Verb. When companies have to fund themselves via employee pay, it is never a good sign, I've had to do that as an employee for a failing company.