Google, Apple, Intel Said Poised for U.S. Agreement on Hiring

Six companies led by Google Inc. and Apple Inc. are negotiating an agreement with the U.S. Justice Department to end practices that limit hiring of each other’s employees, according to people familiar with the emerging accord.

Intel Corp., Adobe Systems Inc., Walt Disney Co.’s Pixar animation unit and Intuit Inc. also are in the talks that would halt agreements under which companies refrained from placing “cold calls” to lure workers, said the people who asked not to be identified discussing the proposal. Such unsolicited calls had proved to be successful recruiting tools, one of the people said.

The agreement, which may be completed and announced as early as today, would conclude an antitrust investigation into recruiting and hiring practices that involved some of the biggest U.S. technology companies. Spokesmen for Microsoft Corp. and International Business Machines Corp. said last week that they were no longer part of the investigation.

The Justice Department “probably wanted a much stronger agreement, and as part of the negotiations, this is what they got,” said Makan Delrahim, a former deputy assistant attorney general for antitrust under President George W. Bush.

The proposal is a positive development for employees, although it didn’t go as far as some in the technology industry thought it would, Delrahim, a partner at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck in Washington who wasn’t briefed on the emerging deal, said today in an interview.

Luring Talent

Gina Talamona, a Justice Department spokeswoman, and Chuck Mulloy, an Intel spokesman, declined to comment. Spokesmen for the five other companies couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

Technology companies often hire workers from each other as they seek to lure the best talent, and sometimes end up in conflict. In 2005, Microsoft, the world’s largest software maker, sued after Google lured away Kai-Fu Lee to run a development center in China. The companies settled the suit.

In January 2009, Apple and IBM resolved a three-month legal battle over the hiring of IBM executive Mark Papermaster as Apple’s engineering chief.

The hiring probe expanded scrutiny of technology companies by President Barack Obama’s administration. The makeup of Google’s and Apple’s boards drew the attention of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, and the Justice Department has urged a federal judge to revise a settlement between copyright owners and Google over the company’s book-scanning project.

To contact the reporters on this story: Sara Forden in Washington at sforden@bloomberg.net; Jeff Bliss in Washington jbliss@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Larry Liebert at lliebert@bloomberg.net. Mark Silva in Washington at msilva34@bloomberg.net.