Brutal email Steve Jobs sent to Adobe CEO after he found out they were poaching his employees
Some tend to think of Steve Jobs as the mild-mannered turtleneck-wearing former boss of Apple, but with inventor and investor helping turn the humble electronics company into a tech Goliath, he was a man who knew how to get things done.
It seems that Jobs developed something of a business rivalry with Bruce Chizen, the CEO of Adobe Systems from 2000 to 2007.
In a resurfaced email, the pair butted heads over an apparent recruiting issue, with Jobs making his feelings clear and showing a different side to the late bespectacled Apple overlord.
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Dated May 26, 2005, and having a simple subject line of 'Recruiting', Jobs opened with a pretty abrupt: "Bruce, Adobe is recruiting from Apple."
Accusing Adobe of 'poaching' staff, Jobs claimed that one member of staff had already been hired from Apple, with accusations that 'lots more' had been receiving calls.
Jobs adds: "I have a standing policy with our recruiters that we don't recruit from Adobe. It seems you have a different policy."
Signing off with a particularly curt goodbye, Jobs concluded by saying: "One of us must change our policy. Please let me know who."
While not a direct threat, it's a pretty pointed jibe at the then-CEO of Adobe.
This led to a volleying of emails between the pair with some seriously passive-aggressive 'banter'. Chizen defended Adobe's actions and said that he thought the two sides only agreed not to recruit any senior-level positions from each other.
Steve Jobs emails Adobe's CEO
— Internal Tech Emails (@TechEmails) July 16, 2023
May 26, 2005 pic.twitter.com/PMaataxTrO
A clearly vexed Jobs responded saying: "OK, I'll tell our recruiters they are free to approach any Adobe employee who is not Sr. Director or VP. Am I understanding your position correctly?"
With this final smackdown, it seems like Jobs gets his own way.
Chizen's final reply says: "I’d rather agree NOT to actively solicit any employee from either company. If employee proactively approaches then it’s acceptable. If you are in agreement I will let my folks know."
Although neither Chizen nor Jobs publicly shared the exchange, the emails made their way online when they were revealed in a 2010 antitrust lawsuit. This led to a 2013 civil class action lawsuit against eight Silicon Valley companies (Adobe, Apple Inc., Google, Intel, Intuit, Pixar, Lucasfilm, and eBay), where plaintiffs alleged that the 'no hiring' policy was part of a conspiracy to drive down wages.
In May 2014, Apple, Google, Intel, and Adobe eventually agreed to settle for $324.5 million, and while it cost them all dearly, at least we got to see Steve Jobs' sassy side from it all.