Zuckerberg offered his engineers $250 million each to stay at Meta.
But Elon gave them something money couldn't buy, and they abandoned Meta immediately.
Here's the offer that Zuck's own team couldn't resist:
Meta is spending $70 billion on AI this year alone.
They acquired Alexandr Wang's startup for $14.3 billion and assembled one of the world's most elite AI teams.
Which is why no one could explain what started happening in February 2025...
Engineers started leaving.
Not for Google. Not for OpenAI.
They were joining a startup with 1,200 employees.
A company that couldn't match Meta's compensation...
But it could offer something 10x more attractive:
xAI, Elon Musk's empire.
Talent was bleeding from Meta:
• Xinlei Chen specialized in multimodal AI at Meta.
• Ching-Yao Chuang worked on vision and video.
• Alan Rice managed critical data centers.
Meta had to make a desperate offer...
Meta offered $250 million for each of the workers.
• $100 million signing bonuses
• Direct access to Zuckerberg
• Unlimited resources
They left anyway. And what makes it worse?
Workers were flooding to xAI "without the need for insane initial comp."
These engineers walked away from life-changing money, choosing a startup over guaranteed wealth.
So here's how Musk pulled it off...
To put it simply: Mission beats money.
• Meta is building AI for commercial dominance.
• xAI's building AGI to "maximize truth-seeking."
Engineers want their work to shape humanity's future.
But the second factor is even more powerful:
Speed.
• At Meta, launching requires months of approvals.
• At xAI, ideas become products in weeks.
No committees. No bureaucracy. No pointless meetings.
And on top of that, Musk promises:
"Vastly more market cap growth potential."
Tesla and SpaceX made early employees worth tens of millions.
xAI could soon be bigger than both.
But here's the genius nobody talks about:
Musk raids his own companies, too.
More than 40 former Tesla employees joined xAI.
Why? They bring hardware expertise that Meta can't buy.
Look at Daniel Rowland:
Daniel led Tesla's Dojo supercomputer; now he's building xAI's Colossus data center.
Think about the advantage:
• xAI gets AI researchers from Meta
• Systems engineers from SpaceX
• Hardware experts from Tesla
Meta can't replicate this cross-pollination:
The ripple effects are reshaping Silicon Valley.
Microsoft started matching Meta's offers.
Google acquired entire startups for their teams.
OpenAI's CEO called it "pro-athlete level" compensation.
Everyone's desperate except Musk:
The truth is brutal for Zuckerberg.
The pool of elite AI researchers is tiny. He admits it himself.
Whoever gets the most wins AI's future.
Right now, Musk's winning.
And he's not losing anytime soon, this proves it:
Engineers aren't following money anymore.
They're following leaders with compelling visions.
Musk's huge following on X isn't an ego play; it's a 24/7 recruitment magnet.
This principle applies far, far beyond tech:
When you share your authentic story and insights like Musk...
• Top talent aligns with your mission
• Investors see your unique values
• Customers are pre-sold on trust
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