Big tech companies are on acquisition sprees, but the strategy is more about talent than products.
In the consumer Internet industry, the best engineers and product managers are often those who forgo high-profile jobs and salaries to start their own businesses or work on small startup teams. That's a problem for rapidly expanding companies like Facebook and Zynga that are trying to hire on a massive scale while maintaining high quality.
Thus the term "acqhired," which applies to companies that buy startups for the purpose of bringing on talent they couldn't otherwise attract. Facebook has made 20 such moves in the last four years.
In the short term, everybody wins but the venture capitalists who don't get to see their investments turned into the next Google. The big company gets proven talent, and the talent gets a big payday and the ego stroke of an established company buying them out.
In the long term though, engineers predisposed to working at a startup are likely to jump ship to another new venture rather than work in a larger corporation -- as soon as their stock options vest, of course. (NYT)
Secret Life of Resumes (CNN.com)
Ever wonder if your resume goes into a black hole somewhere after you submit it online? CNN takes a look at the hiring process at Siemens.
Related: How to Get Noticed by Hiring Managers
More Space! (San Jose Mercury News)
You need a place to put all those geeks. Google is leasing a new Mountain View, Calif., campus -- 630,000 square feet -- to accommodate the more than 6,000 new hires it will make by the end of the year. Mashable has pics.
Related: Google Obsessed With Its Employees
Oregon Tech Employment Inches Back Up (The Oregonian)
Oregon employs 55,600 tech workers, the most since early 2009. Still a long way to go to the highs of 2007, when tech employment neared 60,000.
GM Gets $10 Million Tax Break (Detroit Free Press)
Michigan has granted its comeback kid, GM, nearly $10 million in tax breaks for creating a technology and data center that will employ 25 people.
East > West (Research Works)
New research suggests that female technologists have more opportunity in Asia than in the West.
Facebook Exec's Message to Women (All Things Digital)
Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg had some words of wisdom for women and their careers. She gave the commencement address at Barnard College yesterday.
Related: Women in the Workplace
Sky's the Limit (WSJ)
LinkedIn's IPO share price keeps rising. Yesterday the company told the SEC that it expected shares to go as high as $45, up 10 bucks from last week.
Immigration Policy and the Backlash (FoxNews.com)
The Department of Homeland Security is expanding the number of foreign-born students who can get a 17-month visa extension. Tech companies should be happy, since this increases the chances that these students will remain in the U.S., but there is criticism that they take away American jobs.
Best Young Entrepreneurs (Bloomberg Businessweek)
Check out this slideshow of the Mark Zuckerbergs of tomorrow.
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