I bought my first tranche in 2002 and watched the share rise to...

I bought my first tranche in 2002 and watched the share rise to the equivalent of well above what Merck are offering now. The problem with such a poor return for people who buy in early to a successful company is that the huge risk of failure makes it not worth put your money down in the first place. The dilution of share value by 'gifting' huge numbers of shares to sophisticated investors who have made the vast majority of the profit sours the deal. Particulary, given that it has been implied that the companies value is far higher than the money that is currently on the table.