Google sought Steve Jobs' approval before hiring former Apple executive, triggering antitrust scrutiny

On March 28, 2006, Alan Eustace, Google's senior vice president of engineering, sent an email to Steve Jobs requesting clearance to recruit Jean-Marie Hullot, the former Apple applications CTO, for a new engineering site in Paris. The message highlighted Hullot's commitment to existing non-solicit and non-compete clauses and stressed that any threat to the Google-Apple relationship would cause Google to abandon the hire.

After a eleven-day pause, Jobs asked what Hullot would be working on, specifically warning against projects related to cell-phone handsets. Satisfied with the clarification, Jobs gave tentative approval, but later objected when Hullot sought to bring four of his former Apple engineers, urging Google not to proceed. Consequently, Google cancelled the Paris centre and Hullot never joined, later founding the photo startup Fotonauts. The email exchange later appeared as evidence in a $415 million antitrust class action involving Google, Apple, Intel and Adobe.