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The 7 year expiry time exists so IRS lets you give RSUs different tax treatment than regular stock. The idea is because they can expire, they could be worth nothing. And so the IRS cannot expect you to pay taxes on RSUs until the double-trigger event occurs.

But none of this means the company can just cancel your RSUs unless you agreed to them being cancelled for specific reason in your equity agreement. I have worked at several big pre-IPO companies that had big exits. I made sure there were no clawback clauses in the equity contract before accepting the offers.