This actually has more to do with the vast majority of CEO compensation being structured as stock option grants, and very little if anything to do with “Buy, Borrow, Die.” It’s largely meant to communicate skin in the game to shareholders (“I don’t make any money unless I drive shareholder value via stock price increases").
Whether or not that’s actually true is a totally different matter and depends largely on the actually structure of the compensation, but that’s the theory.
The point of Buy is to acquire the asset you will Borrow against. How doesn't really matter. So Larry did that by growing a company. Good for Larry. But the tax avoidance is the same from there. Borrow, Die.
Whether or not that’s actually true is a totally different matter and depends largely on the actually structure of the compensation, but that’s the theory.