Apple, Google, Intel, and Adobe have agreed to pay A$613.9 million to resolve a lawsuit surrounding an anti-poaching agreement.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of more than 64,000 workers from across the four companies, alleged the firms agreed not to poach staff from each other.
This alleged agreement prevented workers from getting better job offers elsewhere, stifling their advancement opportunities within these four massive technology giants.
The claim, filed in 2011, had originally asked for A$4.44 billion in damages.
A 2014 attempt by the four companies to settle for A$480 million was deemed by the judge as too low.
The lawsuit cites various emails that refer to the no-poaching deal.
One email exchange shows Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google informing Steve Jobs that a Google recruiter who solicited an Apple employee would be fired.
Jobs forwarded to email to a human resources executive at Apple with a smiley face.
Another email finds Schmidt discussing the non-poaching pact.
“Schmidt responded that he preferred it be shared ‘verbally, since I don’t want to create a paper trail over which we can be sued later'”, the court filing said.
