That's exactly the issue, Kevin Rose is getting dollars for shuttering an unsuccessful web service. Why does Kevin Rose get to cash out for being a failure, simply because his name is Kevin Rose, while all the hardworking nobody engineers slave away to build successful companies without any help or millions of dollars splashing down on them for their supposed greatness which is unsupported by evidence?

It's not for you to decide. Why do NBA stars get millions of dollars for being able to throw a ball in a hoop really well?

You're implying that Kevin Rose is like an NBA superstar, but his startup didn't earn a single penny and got shuttered. How is that anything like a basketball star who throws the ball in a hoop well?

NBA superstars don't get paid purely for skill, they get paid for because they bring in crowds of people and sell merchandise. That's where the money comes from.

Acquisitions are not a meritocracy. If you don't like it, go into a business where what goes on is more like a meritocracy.

Not in the acquisitions game, and certainly not in the acquihire game.

Otherwise most startups that get bought wouldn't get bought, since most of them don't have any revenue (much less profit).