FYIFV (standing for "Fuck You, I'm Fully Vested") or FYIV
(Ken Barnes
/ref> is a piece of early Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...
jargon
Jargon is the specialized terminology associated with a particular field or area of activity. Jargon is normally employed in a particular Context (language use), communicative context and may not be well understood outside that context. The conte ...
that has become an urban legend
An urban legend (sometimes contemporary legend, modern legend, urban myth, or urban tale) is a genre of folklore comprising stories or fallacious claims circulated as true, especially as having happened to a "friend of a friend" or a family m ...
: the claim that employees whose stock option
In finance, an option is a contract which conveys to its owner, the ''holder'', the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell a specific quantity of an underlying asset or instrument at a specified strike price on or before a specified dat ...
s were fully vested
In law, vesting is the point in time when the rights and interests arising from legal ownership of a property is acquired by some person. Vesting creates an immediately secured right of present or future deployment. One has a vested right to an ...
(that is, could be exercised) would occasionally wear T-shirt
A T-shirt (also spelled tee shirt), or tee, is a style of fabric shirt named after the T shape of its body and sleeves. Traditionally, it has short sleeves and a round neckline, known as a ''crew neck'', which lacks a collar. T-shirts are general ...
s or buttons
A button is a fastener that joins two pieces of fabric together by slipping through a loop or by sliding through a buttonhole.
In modern clothing and fashion design, buttons are commonly made of plastic but also may be made of metal, wood, ...
with the initials "FYIFV" to indicate they were sufficiently financially independent to give their honest opinions and leave any time they wished.
In internal usage at Microsoft, it was meant metaphorically to describe intransigent co-workers. In press usage and popular culture, it was used to imply a predatory business culture reaching even to the programmers.
Despite many third-hand reports of Microsoft employees wearing "FYIFV" buttons or shirts, there is only one report of an ''actual'' "FYIFV" T-shirt, worn on the wearer's last day at the company.
Origins of the phrase
An option allows the holder to buy the stock at a later date for the price at which the option was originally granted. Many Microsoft full-time employees were granted stock options at the start of their employment. The options vested gradually over four and a half years. Because Microsoft's stock price rose significantly between September 1986 and January 2000 and split
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8 times in that period, an employee could buy the stock cheap and sell it at a considerable profit, thus reducing or removing their dependence on their Microsoft salary. Many stayed at Microsoft nevertheless because they enjoyed their work.
Adam Barr, author of the book ''Proudly Serving My Corporate Masters'', tracked down a possible origin for the urban legend:
"FYIFV" in popular culture
The first third-party note of the term appears to be by Paul Andrews in the ''Seattle Times'' in 1989, in the context of Microsoft as a place where hard work and long hours were expected and rewarded:
Andrews used the term again when coauthoring the book ''Gates'' with Stephen Manes
Stephen Manes (born January 8, 1949) is the author of the 2011 nonfiction book ''Where Snowflakes Dance and Swear: Inside the Land of Ballet.'' Its subject, the workings of a ballet company, marked a significant departure for an author best known f ...
in 1993.
The quote became more common as Microsoft's fortunes rose, used with the implication that alleged predatory business attitudes reached even to the programmers:
The phrase was also used with the implication that Microsoft employees were motivated only by money, rather than software quality, ''e.g.'' in a 2000 ''Wired
''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San Fra ...
'' article on ''United States v. Microsoft
''United States v. Microsoft Corporation'', 253 F.3d 34 (D.C. Cir. 2001), was a landmark American antitrust law case at the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The U.S. government accused Microsoft of illegally ...
'':
Related phrases
Ken Barnes' ''Microsoft Lexicon'' notes also the term "QVD," or "Quietly Vesting Disease": the loss of enthusiasm of an employee as they approach or pass their vesting date.
References
Microsoft culture
English phrases
Initialisms