Google Pays $100 Million to Keep Wildfire Employees

Google bought social marketing startup Wildfire for $350 million, but it's placed $100 million in incentives and retention bonuses to keep its acquisition's employees from flying the coop.

Google set up $100 million in earn-outs and retention bonuses, according to TechCrunch citing multiple sources. For those of you too busy for math, that's $450 million, a sum that TechCrunch things is enough to keep founders Victoria Ransom and Alain Chuard to keep leading the Wildfire team and keeping others from straying.

So here would be these employees go? Straying to competitors would mean Facebook, but have you seen that mess lately? Employees are leaving Facebook in an attempt to get something back from their company stock. Apple? Perhaps, but mass hiring was never its strong suit. Startups? Probably.

While the more entrepreneurial out there might head a startup, the majority would be willing to stay put. That's human nature, despite the romanticization of Silicon Valley opportunities. So did Google spend too much money? Possibly, but it was much less than $1 billion and Wildfire is much more than just a photo app.

 
 
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