Silicon Valley Loses the Keystone of a Golden Age

They're chopping down the money tree.

In the late 20th century, it produced a bumper crop of wealth, a low-hanging fruit known as stock options. In California's Silicon Valley, these options were renowned for giving not just top executives but also rank-and-file workers rights to buy company shares at a set low price, and sell them later at an almost-guaranteed higher price.

As tech stocks soared in the '90s, one company alone, Microsoft(MSFT Quote), turned an estimated 10,000 option holders into millionaires. (For some stories of options boom and bust in Silicon Valley, click here.) ...