Buying Companies For the Talent

There’s a new trend happening in Silicon Valley that’s taking the hunt for new talent to another level. Start-ups are being “acquired.” The New York Times reports that big companies, such as Facebook, Google and Zynga, are buying start-ups solely for the employees. They call it a talent acquisition. “Engineers are worth half a million to one million,” says Vaughan Smith, Facebook’s director of corporate development. Facebook is leading the pack, acquiring some 20 start-ups and paying hefty prices to keep founders, CEOs, and engineers working for them. This trend only intensifies the war for talent in The Valley, but some analysts think that it will be hard for these larger company to retain new talent. Read more from The New York Times.