Apple offers USD $ 180 K Bonuses to Prevent Top Talent Defection to Meta

Apple is giving a few talented engineers a very welcome gift for the new year—namely, bonuses, with some adding up to as much as $180,000.

The unusual and significant amount is a concerted effort to retain talent and stave off defections to tech rivals such as Facebook owner Meta. Last week, the company informed some engineers in silicon design, hardware, and select software and operations groups of the out-of-cycle bonuses, which are being issued as restricted stock units, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The shares vest over four years, providing an incentive to stay at the iPhone maker.

Apple is waging a talent war with companies in Silicon Valley and beyond. Meta has hired about 100 engineers from Apple in the last few months, but it hasn’t been a one-way street.