Google offers 300% hike to retain employee switching to AI startup

Search engine giant Google once offered an employee a 300% hike in salary who planned to switch jobs to Perplexity AI.

Aravind Srinivas, CEO of Perplexity AI revealed this instance on the Big Technology Podcast. 

The IIT-Madras alumni Srinivas the length to which big tech giants are willing to go to retain their employees.

Srinivas said that the employee who received a massive salary hike was part of the 'search team' and had no direct involvement with its AI division.

Further, Srinivas spoke about the layoffs in the tech industry. He said the firms target those with high salaries who do not proportionately contribute to productivity.

Last month, Google CEO Sundar Pichai warned employees to brace themselves for more job cuts. He stated that the company needs to make "tough choices" to create capacity for investments.