'All In on the Metaverse'... Meta Recruits Talent from MS and Apple

[Asia Economy Reporter Yujin Cho] As competition intensifies in metaverse development, leading companies are fiercely competing to secure talent.

According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on the 10th (local time), about 100 of the 1,500 employees in Microsoft's (MS) augmented reality (AR) team recently left the company, with a significant number moving to Meta (formerly Facebook), a competitor.

MS employees reported that Meta even offered to double salaries to recruit key talent from MS, a leader in the AR field.

According to member profiles posted on LinkedIn, more than 70 people left MS's HoloLens team last year, with over 40 of them moving to Meta.

The head of customer feedback for HoloLens was recruited by Meta last summer, and another employee who worked on the HoloLens display team was scouted a few months ago as the head of Meta's display team.

MS is a pioneer in the AR field, having announced HoloLens several years ago. This has made MS employees targets for recruitment by other companies.

MS declined to disclose the staffing status of the HoloLens team, stating, "Employee turnover is a regular challenge faced by many teams, and MS does what it can to retain employees and hire new ones when necessary."

Big tech companies are investing billions of dollars in developing AR and virtual reality (VR) related hardware and software. As the latecomer Meta aggressively expands its business, the competition for talent is intensifying.

The world's largest social media company, Facebook, changed its name to Meta last October, emphasizing its metaverse strategy. It also announced plans to strengthen its workforce by hiring 10,000 people in Europe over the next five years.

Meta has recruited talent not only from MS but also from Apple, which in turn has offered incentives to prevent talent outflow.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.