Steve Jobs and Eric Schmidt's handshake deal
Steve Jobs & Eric Schmidt — CEOs of Apple and Google, Joint public appearances and industry panels
“Silicon Valley is an open, merit-based ecosystem where engineers and designers are fiercely competed for based on world-class innovation and talent.”
Steve Jobs to Eric Schmidt — private email exchange, Direct email from Jobs to Schmidt
“Jobs: 'I am told that your recruiter is aggressively trying to recruit an Apple engineer. I would be very pleased if we could stop this.' Schmidt to HR: 'Please get this recruiter fired within the hour.' Schmidt to Jobs: 'Recruiter terminated.' Jobs to Schmidt: ':)'”
The Split:While celebrating fierce competition for talent, Jobs demanded the firing of an ordinary recruiter who contacted an Apple engineer. Schmidt complied within an hour, and Jobs replied with a smiley face.
An anti-poaching pact is evidenced not by a grand conspiracy contract, but by a 2-character smiley face closing an executive backchannel.