Google , Apple , Intel , and Adobe will have to pay a hefty sum (for us, not for them) after they pleaded guilty to a secret agreement they had with each other. The agreement stated that each company would not hire employees from the other. For this reason, the companies will have to pay $324 million.
The original lawsuit was filed in 2011, when workers accused the companies of conspiring not to hire employees working at “allied” companies in order to prevent a wage war. The workers initially sought $3 billion in damages, an amount that could be tripled under antitrust laws.
Despite the apparent rivalry between companies like Google and Apple, it seems that Steve Jobs and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt worked together quite well. They communicated via email about how to put their plan into action so that they could avoid stealing each other’s staff and at the same time, make sure their staff wouldn’t leave them.
The four companies – Google, Apple, Adobe and Intel – already received recommendations from the US Department of Justice in 2010, agreeing not to engage in such agreements again. Since then, they have been fighting the civil antitrust lawsuit.
The trial was set to begin in May, but the four tech giants decided to settle rather than go through the entire process again, not knowing what the chances of winning the trial would be.
