In a case that alleged that major Silicon Valley employers colluded not to poach employees from each other, Google, Apple, Intel and Adobe have agreed to pay to settle a major lawsuit according to a letter filed Thursday with the federal judge handling the case.
The letter does not reveal the terms, but instead says that the terms of the settlement will be presented by May 27 to U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh.
It was alleged that the class included 64,000 valley employees who claimed to be entitled to $3 billion in damages.
The companies were scheduled to go to trial in the case in late May, facing the prospect of allegations that top executives, including late Apple CEO Steve Jobs and Google CEO Eric Schmidt, cut secret deals to prevent hiring movement in Silicon Valley.
Recently released documents show that in a 2005 email exchange, Steve Jobs reportedly told Google co-founder Sergey Brin: “If you hire a single one of these people, that means war.”
Pixar and Lucasfilm, as well as Intuit, previously settled in the case for about $20 million.
