It's a slightly misleading figure because it includes all the stock grants given in 2017. From the proxy statement:

> we calculated as actual salary paid to our employees for 2017 [...], actual bonus or sales commission earned by our employees in 2017, and the value of equity awards granted to our employees in 2017

Specifically, if you joined in 2017 the value of your entire initial stock grant was used. This skews the median quite a bit. For example, if I joined Facebook in 2017 at $150,000 and received a $400,000 RSU stock grant vesting over four years my median annual income for the purposes of these SEC calculations was $550,000 (even though most of that is in stock vesting over the next four years).

> For example, if I joined Facebook in 2017 at $150,000 and received a $400,000 RSU stock

But over 2018, FB would book $0 of that RSU even though you vested $100k worth.

Not very misleading though, because if you got $1000 in RSUs in 2017, you probably get a similar amount in 2018.

Does that mean you have to pay income tax on it in 2017 even though its not fully realized until possibly 2021?

You don't get taxed when they are granted. That would be pretty rough, because a lot of people get several years of RSUs granted when they join a company.

When the RSUs vest, they are taxed as income. If you hold on to the shares for a while before selling them, and they increase in value, you'll pay capital gains taxes when you sell them.

You pay income tax on RSUs as they vest.

What if an employee quits after 1 year? Does facebook count that as negative salary?

Not to mention the UK tax on it

Dang, thats a lot of money. Though last year was a great year for stocks in general, I wonder how much that would change in a bear market.

Is that truly salary? Or total compensation?

TC, almost certainly. Otherwise I need to quit and get rehired :)

"Median pay package", which I assume includes base salary, bonuses, stock grants, insurance, and some dollar value for other benefits.

from the article: salary, bonuses, and stock grants.

from the article: "That's total compensation, which includes salary, bonus, and stock grants."