Even if liquid, these salaries probably reflect people vesting stock from years ago - and the high end would include people vesting stock offered at a much lower valuation. In this kind of ranking there’d be a bias towards companies with rapidly growing share prices ... and remember that last performance is no indicator of future returns.
I'm an L5 that joined a FAANG last year, and earn 440k/yr. If I counted stock inflation, it would be 500k/yr. Most people don't count stock inflation into their total compensation.
When I compare the numbers for my level, I see a salary that is more or less in line with mine, and I see RSU compensation that is in line with the number of RSUs that I received in 2019.
In other words: it does not take into account stock appreciation.
I don't know whether or not that's generally true, but from where I sit, the numbers seem sound and are not inflated due to a rising stock market.
