Employees at Razorfish -- the digital media agency that Microsoft is selling off to Publicis Groupe for $530 million -- will lose 75 percent of their unvested stock options once the deal goes through. AdAge reports that employees of the Seattle-based agency -- which was consumed by Microsoft as part of the $6 billion aQuantive deal -- will get 25 percent of their options and they must stay with the newly-merged company until next June in order to collect.

A Razorfish employee tells AdAge that the new compensation agreement is a "slap in the face" and notes that many people are talking to lawyers.

The AdAge report is fascinating because it lays out the challenges that more traditional companies (which usually don't grant stock) have when they buy those companies that do. Reporter Michael Learmonth notes:

The flap illustrates the difference in culture between a digital shop that has been run in many ways like a tech company and a traditional holding company. Employees of tech companies and startups are typically compensated with stock options. At advertising holding companies? Not so much. It's hard financially for them to pay Microsoft-style options and benefits.