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发帖数: 4961 | 1 http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/06/antitrust-probe-to-revie
Antitrust Probe to Review Hiring Practices at Apple, Google, Yahoo: Report
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By Eliot Van Buskirk Email Author June 3, 2009 | 11:05 am | Categories:
Economy, People
The Department of Justice is investigating whether some of the largest tech
firms in the world violated antitrust laws by coordinating their strategies
for hiring top talent. Agreements not to steal one another’s key business
and engineering employees could have unfairly stifled competition, according
to the Washington Post’s sources.
The DoJ launched reviews of Apple, Genentech, Google, and Yahoo, according
to these sources, none of which offered comment to the Post. Other firms
could face similar scrutiny during the “industry-wide” investigation.
The problem, it would appear, lies in companies consulting each other on
which employees should be recruited, and by whom. By trading one key
employee for another (or by not trading them, as the case may be), these
companies might be able to protect talent without resorting to expensive
bidding wars or risking losing mission-critical personnel.
“This could be collusive restraint on trade, which could have a serious
impact on competition,” American Antitrust Institute president Albert Foer
told the Post.
High-tech employees, especially upper management and star engineers, are
highly sought by Silicon Valley firms, which often hurt one another by
luring key people away. The investigation into possible collusion on the
part of high-tech firms is believed to be in its early stages, with the DoJ
having sent requests for documents and information to a subset of companies
to be targeted. | r****9
发帖数: 4961 | 2 Steve Jobs told Google to stop poaching workers
By Dan Levine
Sat Jan 28, 2012 5:57am IST
REUTERS - Apple's Steve Jobs directly asked former Google Chief Executive
Eric Schmidt to stop trying to recruit an Apple engineer, a transgression
that threatened one junior Google employee's job, according to a court
filing.
The 2007 email from Jobs to Schmidt was disclosed on Friday in the course of
civil litigation against Apple Inc (AAPL.O), Google Inc (GOOG.O) and five
other technology companies. The proposed class action, brought by five
software engineers, accuses the companies of conspiring to keep employee
compensation low by eliminating competition for skilled labor.
In 2010, Google, Apple, Adobe Systems Inc (ADBE.O), Intel Corp (INTC.O),
Intuit Inc (INTU.O) and Walt Disney Co's (DIS.N) Pixar unit agreed to a
settlement of a U.S. Justice Department probe that bars them from agreeing
to refrain from poaching each other's employees.
According to an unredacted court filing made public in the civil litigation
on Friday, the now-deceased Jobs emailed Schmidt in March 2007 about an
attempt by a Google employee to recruit an Apple engineer. Schmidt was also
an Apple board member at the time.
"I would be very pleased if your recruiting department would stop doing this
," Jobs wrote.
Schmidt forwarded Job's email onto other, undisclosed recipients.
"Can you get this stopped and let me know why this is happening?" Schmidt
wrote.
Google's staffing director responded that the employee who contacted the
Apple engineer "will be terminated within the hour."
He added: "Please extend my apologies as appropriate to Steve Jobs."
Google spokeswoman Niki Fenwick said on Friday the company, "has always
actively and aggressively recruited top talent."
Apple representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The tech defendants have asked a U.S. judge in San Jose, California to
quickly dismiss the civil lawsuit, arguing that the companies engaged in
bilateral anti-poaching deals to protect collaboration. The companies did
not participate in an "overarching conspiracy," they argued in filings.
But at a court hearing this week, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh said the
civil lawsuit will proceed, although it may be split up into multiple
potential class actions.
Among the revelations stemming from the civil litigation is a 2007 note from
Palm's chief executive to Apple's Steve Jobs, saying that an anti-poaching
agreement would be "likely illegal.
The latest court filing also refers to a 2007 note from Intel chief
executive Paul Otellini discussing that company's agreement with Google.
"Let me clarify. We have nothing signed," Otellini wrote. "We have a
handshake 'no recruit' between eric sic and myself. I would not like this
broadly known."
Intel representative Sumner Lemon said on Friday the company, "disagrees
with the allegations contained in the private litigation related to
recruiting practices and plans to conduct a vigorous defense."
The case in U.S. District Court, Northern District of California is In Re:
High-Tech Employee Antitrust Litigation, 11-cv-2509.
(Reporting By Dan Levine; editing by Tim Dobbyn and Andre Grenon) |
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