[paulsutter]

If you want to know /how "valuable" that research team is/, find out what Microsoft paid for the Maluuba. The number is not in line with their salaries. A few notes on that:

"Ex-Googler Sebastian Thrun says the going rate for self-driving talent is $10 million per person" http://www.recode.net/2016/9/17/12943214/sebastian-thrun-sel...

"Artificial Intelligence Teams Being Acquired For $2.5m/employee; Employee Value Often Far Exceeds Business Value" https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/artificial-intelligence-teams...

"DeepMind was said to have around 75 employees when Google picked it up in 2014. If the deal closed at the rumored amount, that would put the cost per employee at an eye-popping $6.66 million. Magic Pony is said to have had a team of 14 when it was acquired by Twitter—$10.7 million per employee." http://pitchbook.com/news/articles/tech-giants-paying-big-mo...