We compete for talent — plus a smiley

Jobs / Schmidt no-poach

In public, Apple and Google raided each other for engineers. In email, Steve Jobs told Eric Schmidt that hiring from Apple meant war. Schmidt forwarded the note and asked staffing to get it stopped. Then Jobs sent a smiley. The High-Tech Employee case unredacted the thread. The Atlantic and The Verge remain the best human walkthroughs. The docket is the depth layer. This is three pairs and one mechanism: the paper trail of a labor market that had already been allocated.

Pair 1 of 3

Stop recruiting from Apple

paper trail

Public

Apple, Google, and peers · 2000s

public labor-market story

Recruiting sites and later court defenses

“The companies told the world they competed fiercely for talent. Engineers were urged to believe the next offer was one email away.”

Private

Steve Jobs to Eric Schmidt · 2007

Apple CEO to Google CEO

“I have a dead serious offer for you. I want you to stop recruiting from Apple. If you hire a single one of these people that means war.”

War is the private labor market. Competition is the public one. The email is short because the preference is simple.

The tell · A CEO-to-CEO threat is the wage policy.

How this became public: Unredacted in High-Tech Employee Antitrust Litigation, N.D. Cal. 5:11-cv-02509.

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Pair 2 of 3

Get this stopped

paper trail

Public

Google · 2007

Do no evil / compete for talent

Public recruiting brand

“Google’s public story was that the best people should work at Google, and that the company hired aggressively from anywhere.”

Private

Eric Schmidt · 2007

Google CEO

Email to staffing, forwarding Jobs

“I believe this is probably your doing. Can you get this stopped and let me know why this is happening? I will do what I can on this end.”

The recruiter did the public job. Schmidt did the private one: fire the visible competition within the hour. The paper trail is the tell — he wrote it down.

The tell · Speed is evidence. A same-day firing after a peer CEO emails is the policy.

How this became public: High-Tech Employee exhibits, later unredacted.

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Pair 3 of 3

The smiley

paper trail

Public

Valley CEOs · 2007

public friendship and rivalry

Keynotes and press

“In public, Jobs and Schmidt performed rivalry plus mutual respect — two companies racing to hire the same kind of person.”

Private

Steve Jobs · 2007

Apple CEO

Email to Eric Schmidt after the recruiter was handled

“:)”

Docket 5:11-cv-02509

A smiley is not a joke here. It is a receipt. The private market cleared. The public market kept its posters.

The tell · The shortest email in the file is often the preference.

How this became public: High-Tech Employee Antitrust Litigation docket.

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