Apple, Google, Intel and Adobe have reached an agreement that would settle their long-standing antitrust class action lawsuit with Silicon Valley employees, reports Reuters. The suit, filed in 2011, accused the 4 tech giants of conspiring to avoid poaching each other’s employees in an effort to keep a lid on salaries.
US District Judge Lucy Koh of San Jose, California rejected a $324.5 million settlement offer from the companies last year, following the objection that the amount was too low in comparison to other anti-poaching suits. The New York Times reports that the new deal could be a joint payment in upwards of $415 million.
The case was based largely on emails between Steve Jobs, Google’s Eric Schmidt and other executives detailing plans to avoid poaching employees, and could include as many as 65,000 class members. In addition to the settlement, the companies agreed with the DOJ to not form no solicitation agreements for 5 years.
[Reuters]